Determining How to Evaluate and Increase Your Happiness

Discovering what makes you happy and keeps you happy can be quite beneficial to your health. As healthcare professionals, there are times when your spark of joy may be put out. But there are resources available to help assess your level of happiness and figure out ways to increase it, if needed.

The health benefits of being happy are plentiful. According to research, happiness can protect the heart, boost the immune system, lower stress, reduce aches and pains, fight disease and help us live longer. But what helps keeps you happy as you carry on through life?

How happy are you? The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania has designed a questionnaire using a variety of measures related to happiness, optimism, gratitude, personal strengths and life meaning to try and help determine just how happy a person may be. We encourage you to take these questionnaires to better understand how your happiness compares to people similar to you, including other healthcare professionals. Registration is required to take the questionnaires. The Positive Psychology Center collects cumulative, anonymous data for research purposes.

To access the self-assessments:

Visit the Positive Psychology Center Authentic Happiness website.
Click the Login tab.
Select Register and enter your information.
Click the Questionnaires tab.
Click the Questionnaire Center for access to all of the questionnaires.

If you aren’t satisfied with your level of happiness, there are resources available to help you determine how to increase it, including the following:

Read about happiness practices from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Read the Greater Good Science Center’s article about science-based strategies for more happiness.