Considering happiness as a skill is a relatively new and unusual idea in our current western culture, but most traditional wisdom traditions, from ancient Greek philosophy to Asian spirituality have shared this vision and developed methods to cultivate the inner qualities leading to happiness.

Neuroscientific research has demonstrated the ability of the brain to transform in response to experiences, this plasticity of the brain and of the nervous system is the basis of developing happiness skills such as compassion, gratitude, or kindness.

Our programs to develop Happiness Skills:

• Developing self-awareness

• Finding a better balance between Care for Self and Care for Others

• Reinforcing resilience in facing difficulties

• Finding / recovering meaning and a sense of direction in life

• Revealing / realising ones full potential

Matthieu Ricard defines Happiness Skills in the following way

“ It [Happiness] comes with a cluster of qualities. There is no such thing as 'happiness' as an isolated quality or skill. It is a skill, but it is a skill that has many components, and each of those components are constructive ways of being, like altruism or benevolence, compassion, inner peace, inner strength, inner freedom. It is the sense of freedom from being carried away by all sorts of wild chain reactions of thoughts due to craving, or hatred, or all that. It is the real freedom to maintain your inner peace. All of those, together, make a way of being that I think characterizes authentic happiness.

It is a skill, because each of those factors, like altruistic love, can be cultivated, a greater inner strength can be cultivated. There are ways to cultivate the skills to be free from being overwhelmed by afflictive emotions. You could say that all of those combined make a general skill, a resulting skill that is authentic wellbeing or happiness.”

Frederic Lenoir, écrivain et sociologue, définit le bonheur en ces termes

« Le bonheur, c'est la conscience d'un état de satisfaction global dans une existence signifiante fondée sur la vérité. L'expérience des plaisirs ne suffit pas. Il faut donner du sens à la vie, ce qui va nous permettre de hiérarchiser nos valeurs, nos choix. Ce sens, chacun se le donne. Il n'existe pas de sens valable pour tous. La philosophie nous permet de comprendre qu'il y a des contenus du bonheur qui sont différents d'un individu à l'autre. Une fois qu'on réfléchit à la définition du bonheur, on peut ensuite réfléchir de manière pratique, se pousser à un travail sur soi à l'aide d'outils philosophiques, transformer ses émotions négatives, vivre l'instant présent. Beaucoup de gens vivent dans le passé ou dans le futur, ruminant ou fantasmant. Or, le bonheur vient de la sensation de ce que l'on ressent dans le présent. Si l'on y est attentif, le cerveau envoie des signaux positifs au corps. L'attention est un cercle vertueux» .(2013)

More on happiness skills from Ha Vinh Tho

Eurasia Foundation and ELI founder, former program director of the Gross National Happiness Center in Bhutan.