This was my second course on Coursera. The title speaks for itself. But why have I selected this as the second course?
I have followed the steps which I mentioned in the previous article.
- Selection of Course: Who does not want to be happy? But there is more to happiness than just the feeling of being happy. Research shows that there are umpteen number of benefits of being happy. It enhances absorption rate of new content in life. I am in the process making my foundation strong. So improving my happiness is definitely a place to start my exciting journey. If you are already happy, you can still do this course because you can learn a few new things about how happiness works.
- Contents of the course: The course tells about the seven sins which we usually commit in our everyday life which steals our happiness. Each week ends with a habit which we have to inculcate to nullify the negative effects of our sins. So this course is not just about one way listening, but also helps you inculcate a few good habits.
- Level of the course: It is a course which requires neither psychology basics nor technical knowledge. It is a course which people from any educational background can do. Even if you don’t have an educational degree, if you just know the language, you can still do this course.
- Rating and Reviews of the course: It is rated as 4.7 on coursera. There were mixed reviews. Some of them found it useful. Others who were not open to change or who were already happy might not have found it useful.
- Duration of course: The course was for around 2 hours a week for 6 weeks. That was not too hectic for me.
- Finding time: I was doing the course for around 20 minutes each day. If I found any lesson interesting, I used to spend a little more time on that.
This was how I selected this course.
Overview of the course:
The author of this course uses balloon as a metaphor for happiness. The way we have to keep pumping air into the balloon to inflate it, we need to add happiness into our lives to have a fulfilled life. Just like the way if there is a small hole in the balloon the air starts leaking outside, the sins we commit in our life also oozes out the happiness. Hence we need to keep inculcating happiness increasing habits the way we plaster the holes of the balloon.
How happy are you? This is the starting point of the course. As I wrote in this article, before you work on improving something, measure your current state. Without knowing where you are, you don’t know if you have moved at all from your origin, leave about reaching the destination. Hence take the happiness survey. But the happiness survey used in this course was a general measure of happiness. The definitions for the terms used in the survey are subjective. And they differ from person to person. So it might not be that useful. But to make the survey useful for you, write down what each statement means to you. For example, one of the statements in the survey says the life I am leading right now is the way I want to live. Make a note of what your ideal life is. Then rate the statement based on your agree-ability to it. After you finish the course, rate the statement based on the same understanding. Suppose if your ideal life now is to have a lot of money and at the end of the course is to have a happy marriage, you will be comparing oranges to apples. So avoid that mistake while measuring it. Once you have measured your happiness, you are ready to start the course.
The following are the seven sins and the respective habits which have to be cultivated.
Sin | Habit |
Devaluing Happiness | Prioritize but don’t pursue happiness |
Chasing Superiority | Pursuing Flow |
Love addict / Avoidant | Provide Love |
Overly Control seeking | Taking Personal responsibility for happiness |
Distrusting Others | Exercising smart trust and forgiving others |
Distrusting Life | Dispassionate pursuit of passion |
Ignoring ourselves | Mindfulness |
In the next posts, I will write my experiences with them.
Happy Learning till then! 🙂
Great article.Thank you so much for sharing this article.
I am happy that you found it useful. I hope you will stop committing the happiness sins and lead a fulfilling life. 🙂