An introduction by David Pattinson
As part of the Diocesan suite of material to help us celebrate “Well-being” Sunday in the middle of January, we were introduced to “The 10 Keys to Happiness”. Ten things we can do to help us stay well; stay motivated; stay healthy. Not just healthy in body, but healthy in mind and spirit as well.
The 10 keys to happiness emerged over a decade ago from clinical and psychological research, which has been supported by literally thousands of research projects. So this isn’t the brainchild of one individual. It’s based on properly researched data.
“The 10 keys to happiness” are now promoted globally by “Action for Happiness” (AfH). This is a non-profit organisation with the stated object of “creating a kinder and happier world”, and it now has over 100,000 members.
“Action for Happiness” points out that Clinical Psychology has tended to concentrate on how to find a cure when things have gone wrong. On top of that our brains are hard-wired to identify risks and problems – that approach was critical to survival. What the 10 keys set out to do are to concentrate our minds on prevention rather than cure; on the positive rather than the negative.