{"id":7417,"date":"2016-09-06T06:05:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T10:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/?p=7417"},"modified":"2018-12-29T09:49:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-29T13:49:37","slug":"increasing-your-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/7417\/increasing-your-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Increasing Your Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a series of articles about\u00a0increasing happiness from the perspective of positive psychology. \u00a0I hope you’ll follow along and try some of the exercises!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Positive psychology looks at ways to promote happiness and life satisfaction. \u00a0It differs from what has been the main focus of psychiatry and psychology, which has been to study and\u00a0treat mental illness.<\/p>\n

I believe this focus is very important for people with chronic pain. \u00a0I talk with my patients about 2 main ways to live a more enjoyable and fulfilling life. \u00a0One, of course, is to\u00a0decrease pain – <\/em>lessen the negative in your life. \u00a0This website presents many, many ways to do that (here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>, for example). \u00a0Unfortunately for many of us, reaching lower pain levels may not be possible. \u00a0We’re stuck with chronic pain – sometimes at high levels.<\/p>\n

So another main way to increase happiness and satisfaction is to focus on increasing the positive, rather than decreasing the negative. \u00a0Positive psychology does that.<\/p>\n

Research in positive psychology tells us that what will make us happier is:<\/p>\n