DAY 264 - HAPPINESS VOX POP - HOWARD FRIEDMAN: DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR, AUTHOR OF THE LONGEVITY PROJECT

Day 264

A few days ago, I wrote a post about a The Longevity Project, a book I found fascinating for its original approach to health and happiness.  One of the authors of the book commented on my post.  He kindly accepted to share his vision on happiness on my blog.

Howard Friedman is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California in Riverside, and author of The Longevity Project: 

Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study (www.howardsfriedman.com/longevityproject).  A graduate of Yale and Harvard, he is the recipient of two major career awards for his health psychology research.

Here are the questions I asked him: 

What is happiness for you? 

Has your profession impacted your level and your vision of happiness? If yes, how? 

Has your vision of happiness greatly changed through time?

What do you do in your every day life to increase your happiness?

My approach to happiness has indeed changed as a consequence of my two decades of research on The Longevity Project.  As a result of my findings from the research (and my own further thinking about the subject), I do not focus directly on happiness. Instead, as you can see in the book, we found that individuals who live a meaningful, productive life, and who stay involved with other people, naturally tend to grow happier and healthier! 

The challenges of work turn out to be a good thing, not a "stress," and so I welcome new tasks. (There are self-quizzes in the book to evaluate one's own trajectory.) 

In line with the findings of The Longevity Project, I try to stay active, involved, and doing something worthwhile. We found that running away and hiding in a perpetual vacation on an isolated beach somewhere is NOT the road to health, happiness or long life.

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