#30DaysOfScikuChallenge
How to be Happier in 2021
Day 29 Prompt: Motivation Research Sciku
goals for the new year autonomy connection competence true happiness
Perhaps you have been wondering about New Years Resolutions — It turns out, according to new findings from motivational research — If you want to make a New Year’s resolution that makes you happy — think about how you can contribute to the world.
Specifically, it suggests planning your goals around how to help others in a way that satisfies three of the basic psychological needs: the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy in this context means that you can engage in activities in which you feel true volition and find personal value. Competence means feeling effective, and having a sense of accomplishment and relatedness means working with and feeling connected to others.
“Think of how you can help,” says Ryan. “There’s a lot of distress out there: If we can set goals that aim to help others, those kinds of goals will, in turn, also add to our own well-being.” Source: Science Daily
Motivation is crucial in almost every aspect of our experience — let's say you are in school — your motivation to study mathematics affects how you learn it. Essentially anytime you make a decision — your motivational state almost positively influences your choice.
Motivation Research is a multidisciplinary approach that advances research on the nature and effects of motivation. For an excellent summary of the science of Motivation — check out — Kou Murayama, Ph.D.
So what is it going to be for you this year — perhaps it’s to exercise more or to call your family and friends more, and maybe even spend less — whatever you decide — If you want to make a New Year’s resolution that also makes you happy — think about the ways in which you can contribute to the world — turns out it’s not just good for the planet, but it’s also good for you!
Perhaps, two happiness resolutions for 2021: forgiveness and gratitude.
For building on forgiveness, one approach worth exploring is REACH Forgiveness — a widely used forgiveness intervention developed by Everett Worthington (2001) : Briefly, it involves (R) Recall the hurt; (E) Empathize with the offender; (A) Altruistic gift of forgiveness; (C)Commit; and (H) Hold on to forgiveness. You can run your own experiment on forgiveness and happiness perhaps by making a list of three people to forgive in the new year.
For practicing gratitude — one approach that I am taking this year is that I started my year by listing 3 things I am grateful for, and every day, I try to look over this list and see if I can add just one more thing to the list. It has only been a couple of weeks, but I think it gets easier to list things — we’ll see — so far, it does add a little sparkle of joy to my days.
Here’s hoping we get out of this pandemic filled state soon and perhaps with resolution such as — forgive, be grateful — you and that of those you love have a happy new year.
Here’s wishing everyone a collaboration filled, enjoyable, and productive 2021!
**This is Day 29 of the #sciku challenge — science-inspired haiku-like poetry( so #sciku?) prompts to get you inspired — Our dear readers — why not spend some time each day creating and having a little fun — if you do — publish it anywhere on medium, just tag it with — #30DaysOfScikuChallenge.
*Tagging Lynn E. O’Connor, Ph.D., Laura Griffith Machado, PsyD Rita Hitching, ASeiler, and anyone else who feels inspired to follow and/or play along with this fun #30DaysOfScikuChallenge and today’s prompt: Motivation Research
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