Happier

Last night I read this interview with Nataly Kogan, Meet an Optimist: Nataly Kogan is on a mission to make people Happier.  I was intrigued, so I watched her TEDx Talk, Sharer of Joy: Nataly Kogan at TEDxBoston.  I love this woman!!  She was a teenager when her family fled Russia and eventually made it to to the United States. She spent decades chasing the American Dream and by most standards she was successful at attaining it, but she wasn't happy.  So she turned to science to see if she could find what is proven to make us happy.  Her findings pointed to gratitude and led her to create Happier.  Her website, www.happier.com says, "Happier was inspired by research that shows focusing on the positive and sharing good things with people you care about makes you happier, healthier and more productive." 

Happier is a mobile app, that unfortunately for me is only available on iPhone right now.  The Android version is being developed.  Here's what Nataly says about the app in the interview,

 "We’re inspired by a lot of the science that’s come from positive psychology and neuroscience and sociology about things that make us happier. And one of the most powerful but very simple things -- more than 11,000 different studies have shown -- that has the most impact on our world is gratitude.  Developing a more grateful mindset where you find and create tiny moments in your everyday life to appreciate.  It’s not about chasing some big happiness goal. It’s about developing a mindset that you’re appreciating things that are in your life. However tiny they are.  So we built the Happier app based on that. We think of it as a social gratitude journal.  We just launched Happier Courses, which is a big piece of the platform for us.  They’re interactive, they’re on mobile and they’ll be on web. They’re bite-sized, they’re really fun.  The whole purpose of those courses is to teach you new ways to create those tiny, positive moments."

I love this idea of creating a more grateful mindset.  It dovetails perfectly with what I've been working on in my life -- not only being grateful but also focusing on the abundance in my life.  I encourage you to check out the interview, the TEDx Talk, and the Happier website.  If you have an iPhone get the app.  Try it out. Let me know what you think.  

"Life is made of moments. Choose to create and collect the happy ones."  - Nataly Kogan