Guest Stephanie Harrison

Kelly catches up with Stephanie Harrison, former learning executive with Thrive. Her company, The New Happy, has revolutionized the way that people understand and pursue happiness. Her new book is called “New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong.”

Your study of the science of happiness comes from a very personal place.

“One of the core definitions of happiness in the literature, is subjective wellbeing, which is a combination of how you feel versus how you evaluate your life to be going, and that’s great. It’s really helpful for being able to run analyses and surveys and get a pulse for people. But it turned out, what I was looking for was not a definition of what happiness is, but the pathway to be able to get to it and to experience it as well as the how behind happiness. And so, ultimately, that’s what led me to do all this work, to try and figure it out for myself. ”

‍

You also write about the fact that happiness is not a solo act.

“We don’t recognize the way that our society is not only structured to pull us apart from one another in all these ways, and to disconnect us in a million little ways throughout our day or week. But also, how we are wrapped up in that myth and that idea for ourselves, we go out there and pursue happiness for ourselves, never thinking about all of the opportunities that we have to contribute to other people’s lives. And that’s why, ultimately, I’ve come to believe that the secret to happiness is helping other people to be happy, because that’s what brings you back together with them.”

 

The ‘Yes, And’ in this book is really a ‘Both, And:’ our happiness is reliant on other people’s happiness and vice versa.

“We have this idea that, you know, do-gooders: they are miserable; they’re unhappy; they’re stressed, they’re struggling; they’re mean or cynical. But there is a powerful path to being a very happy person who is consistently creating and doing good in the world. And I think that the more that we can elevate those people and show that your happiness and the happiness of other people, they are not at odds. That’s the core problem with this individualistic society. It’s like, it’s me or you. In fact, it’s me and you. We can do both at the same time.”