The original post appeared on Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Sum Up

Here’s what we learned about elevation — the best way to be happier:

• Watch inspiring movies: Seeing stories of others doing good makes you happier and makes you want to be good.
• Write about the good moments: Thinking’s nice but writing is better.
• Spend time with good people: Hang out with the good kids, like mom told you.
• Do good to be good: Be the one who elevates others and karma can be a very real thing.

What is Elevation?

When we see others do morally good things like helping an old woman or donating to charity it can inspire a deeper and different type of happiness. He called it “elevation.”

And it was physically distinct from the ice cream/pleasure happiness. People felt different when they experienced elevation than mere pleasure. They got warm, tingly feelings.

But here’s where it gets really interesting: elevation didn’t just make people feel better — it motivated people to be better.

1) Watch An Inspiring Movie

• A movie that powerfully shows someone helping others or being a moral role model

2) Write About The Good Moments

• James Pennebaker’s research has shown that when we write about difficult things in our lives it can help us cope better.
• And when you scribble about doing good things or seeing moral things, boom — you can get to elevation.

3) Spend Time With Good People

When you take a job take a long look at the people you’re going to be working with — because the odds are you’re going to become like them, they are not going to become like you.

4) Do Good To Feel Good

It capitalizes on the tried-and-true psychological principle that our attitudes and beliefs often follow from our behaviors, rather than precede them. As Kurt Vonnegut famously wrote, “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” People who do volunteer work, for example, often change their narratives of who they are, coming to view themselves as caring, helpful people.

• Spending money on others makes one happy too 
• Harvard professor Michael Norton explains in his TED talk 
  
• Here’s the most interesting part of doing good to feel elevation: people see you helping others and the elevation spreads.
  
• To learn how to help others without being a martyr, check out tips from Wharton’s Adam Granthere.)