What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness

What Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness

Robert Waldinger is the fourth director of a continuous study begun by a group of researchers out of Harvard over 70 years ago. Never has so much data been collected about a group of men who lived in the poor community of Brooklyn, New York as teenagers. When longitudinal studies are done, they typically fold within several years because of drop out rates for various reasons. This study has managed to continuously collect data for more than 70 years. The same group of men, some now in their nineties, have submitted to answering questions about their life year after year in numbers that make this study statistically significant. Much knowledge has been gleamed from this study. Today I want to focus on what we have learned about the ingredients that make up a long and happy life. I will embed the presentation given by Dr. Waldinger, who is a psychiatrist and on staff at Harvard. The presentation is about 12 minutes long. I think you will be surprised about what makes people happy. Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy can open the door to leading a long life filled with happiness. EFT’s goal is to foster secure attachment between couples who desire to grow oldĀ together.