“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Willie Nelson
The most popular course in the 300+ years of Yale is Dr. Lori Santos’ course in Happiness. It’s also free on Coursera. In this course, they explore the various factors from the neuroscience and psychology of happiness, and you can go really deep into the science or just focus on the more surface aspects and do the basic rewiring mental exercises.
One of the most powerful factors in happiness is gratitude. Spending a few moments a few times a day to reflect on the good things in your life has been shown to have numerous benefits, including increasing creativity (maybe why Willie’s life got better).
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but gratitude is the fairy godmother that brings unexpected and beautiful gifts.