The Best Free Training

“We found specific interventions [i.e., assignments or exercises] that make people lastingly happier, and we believe this study holds implications — small and large — for the future of positive interventions and perhaps for clinical interventions.” – from “Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions” a research paper published in American Psychologist by Martin Seligman, Tracy A. Steen, Nansook Park, & Christopher Peterson

So here’s the deal: If you want to train yourself to be happier and you’re not sure where to start, here’s some very good news: You don’t need to spend a lot of energy analyzing and worrying about your weaknesses. Instead, you can simply identify some of your key strengths and build on them by performing some relatively simple exercises that have been proven to increase happiness. (Continued in Comment.)

“… positive psychology suggests we can … actually re-wire our brains to be more optimistic. … and positive psychologists say we could make ourselves 10-15% happier.” – Mark Easton reporting for BBC Two’s The Happiness Formula

This is Part 2 in a series of three posts on The Science of Happiness. In Part 1, A Little Theory, I recommended some resources that provided a somewhat academic overview (including the origins) of the the Science of Happiness. In Part 3, Train Yourself to Be Happy, we’ll get into specific steps you can take to train yourself to be happier. In this Part (Some Fun Stuff) we highlight some of the resources available from the website supporting the BBC Series, The Happiness Formula. To be fair, the resources recommended here aren’t so much wild and crazy fun as they are entertaining and well-produced, in the typical BBC fashion. (Continued in Comment.)

” …scientists now believe happiness is a skill that can be learned, just like skiing or playing a musical instrument: With daily practice, you get ever better.” (from Willing Your Way to Happiness,” DenverPost online)

If you’re like me, when you first hear people talking about taking charge of their own happiness, you think of Al Franken’s wacky new-age SNL character Stuart Smalley, who repeatedly chanted to himself, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” Not long ago such “positive affirmations” were touted as one of many keys to happiness by a pop-psychology press overflowing with slickly packaged little books that were guaranteed to change your life. And while their hearts were in the right place, many of these authors had little or no scientific basis for the practices they were recommending.

In recent years, however, the Science of Happiness has emerged as part of the field of Positive Psychology. Today, Harvard educators teach overflowing classes on the subject to academic groups all over the world. And the University of Pennsylvania offers a Masters degree in the field. As you’ll see if you follow the links in this series, there is a solid and growing body of science to support this simple assertion: You can train yourself to be happier. (Continued in Comment.)

Topic: Project management, project charter, project work breakdown structure (WBS)
Format: Narrated slides with animations, interactive practice, links, and tools [free registration required]
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

These free project management webinars from the University of Wisconsin will introduce you to the techniques and benefits of using project charters and project work breakdown structures (WBS) . Multi-media presentation and links to supporting resources are provided. (Continued in Comment.)

Topic: Candidate & officeholder biographies, voting records, issue positions, interest group ratings, campaign finances
Format: website and telephone hotline
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

Did you ever wish you could just get the facts about a candidate or political office holder… without the spin… without the emotion-charged talk show babble or the imagery of media ads for and against? Project Vote Smart: The Voter’s Self-Defense System will give you the spin-free facts: biographies, voting records, positions on issues, ratings by interest groups, how their campaigns are financed, and more. And everything is checked 5 times to make sure all the facts are verified. So do your own “self-study” training on your candidates and public officials. Then help take charge of your democracy! (Continued in Comment.)

Topic: self help (transforming your consciousness, improving your life, improving Earth)
Format: 21 minute MP3 download & 6-page PDF file
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

In this Philosophers Note, Brian Johnson writes, “There’s a reason Oprah decided to team up with Eckhart Tolle to create an unprecedented 10-week course to teach the principles in A New Earth to hundreds of thousands of people: it’s a remarkable book.” Find out what all the excitement is about in Brian’s great free distillations of Tolle’s book. (Continued in Comment.)

Topic: Typing (keyboard) skills
Format: Free download, tutorial program
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

Are you a “hunt and peck” typist whose been envying the flying fingers of those “touch typists?” Do you wish you could knock out your reports, emails, letters, and instant messages with your fingers on autopilot? Then bite the bullet and learn touch typing. And that means drill and practice. Sound boring? It’s definitely not with this fun, irreverent, and customizable tutoring program that you can download to your computer and run off line.

(Continued in comment.)