Happy Monday!
BIG NEWS: I’ve been accepted to Yale!

Well, not really.  But “technically” I’m taking a class at Yale.
I wanted to share something a little different that I am starting this week that you may have heard of.
Yale’s most popular course ever is now available for free online to anyone and everyone.
And if you are like me, now more than ever, I’ll take every extra bit of happiness I can get.

I love motivational/inspirational/feel good/happiness related
podcasts, articles, books, etc.
Most recently I read Atomic Habits by James Clear and absolutely loved it.
You can easily read one chapter a night before bed and it really shows how just being 1% better everyday can lead to huge results.  It’s motivating how big of an impact 1% can make in your everyday life.
(I get the free Thursday newsletter from his website and it’s a great 1 minute boost each week! Highly recommend signing up!)

Anyways, onto this YALE HAPPINESS COURSE!
technically called The Science of Well-Being.
You may have heard of it before, especially because because recently it became FREE to EVERYONE online and I saw it pop up on several morning news shows and websites.
I figured I might as well jump on in!
This article from Business Insider quickly summarizes the course perfectly.

our bathroom pics are from Ballard Designs – I get asked about them a lot on instagram so thought I’d add that.  Tile circa 1990 is my guess based on how it’s cracking in our shower…. can be found RULL CHEAP anywhere. 

The class is taught by a psychologist and broken down into 10 weeks, but you can do it at your own pace.
(She also has a podcast called The Happiness Lab that I plan to listen to!)
Each week involves 45 minutes to 3 hours (per week – totally doable) of video lectures and optional readings.
You do not have to do the readings – everything is discussed in the videos that she films from her home – and if you don’t do the readings I think it’s very minimal time commitment.
I have been horrible with reading before bed (I really need to get back to Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo because I was enjoying it!) but I figure this may be something I can spend 10-20 minutes on at night to do something good for myself!

There are also quick easy questionnaires and assessments you can take to see where you are with your well being and happiness now versus as you continue throughout the course. (I love an easy assessment, it’s like a Buzzfeed survey but one that isn’t a complete waste of time 🙂 although I do enjoy knowing which Real Housewife I would be or what food represents me just as much as the next guy….Buzzfeed is a great time waster…. but I digress….)

I took the first PERMA assessment and am interested to see where my numbers go from there.  (Although to be fair, if I took the assessment tomorrow it could be instantly higher or lower depending on my mood.  I feel like I’m postpartum all over again with the way I’m all over the place these days!)

There also is a “strengths” test you take the first week and mine seemed pretty accurate.  On the bottom (things that do not “come naturally” to me, NOT weaknesses it says haha) are bravery, leadership, self-regulation, and forgiveness.  On the top, things that “do come naturally” to me, are humor, love, fairness, and honesty.

The course covers topics like:

• Misconceptions about Happiness
• Why are our expectations are so bad
• How we can overcome our biases
• What really makes us happy
• Putting Strategies into practice
• “Rewirement” activities to practice what you’ve learned and build upon your happiness.

Anyways, if this is interesting to you, I’ll keep you posted on how I like it as I go along!
And let me know if this is something any of you would be interested in taking, too!

And there’s no way in HEYL I ever would have been accepted to Yale…
so now I can say I’ve attended Yale, right?!