Save for later

A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment

What are the determinants of a happy and fulfilling life? This is surely one of life’s biggest questions, and a question that has interested many of our ancestors. Buddha famously gave up his kingdom in search of happiness. Several Greek philosophers (from Aristotle to Epicurus and Plato to Socrates) had their own views on what it takes to be happy. And of course, we all have our own theories about happiness too. How valid are our theories? Until recently, if you wished for an answer to this question, you would've been forced to base it on discussions with spiritual leaders. Or, if you were lucky, you could've based it on late-night (and perhaps intoxicant-fueled) conversations with friends and family. Happily, all that has changed now. Over the past decade-and-a-half, scientists have gotten into the act big time. We now have a pretty good idea of what it takes to lead a happy and fulfilling life. This course, based on the award-winning class offered both at the Indian School of Business and at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, developed by Prof. Raj Raghunathan (aka "Dr. Happy-smarts") draws content from a variety of fields, including psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral decision theory to offer a tested and practical recipe for leading a life of happiness and fulfillment. Although not mandatory, reading Prof. Raj's forthcoming book, titled If you're so smart, why aren't you happy? can help you review and assimilate the material covered in this book at your leisure. For Coursera learners alone, the hardcover version of the book is available for a deep discount of 50%, plus shipping and handling. You can order the hardcover for 50% off by writing to Aaron at: [email protected]. Please mention that you are a student of the "coursera happiness course" in your email. The course will feature guest appearances by several well-known thought leaders, including: - Dan Ariely (author of Predictably Irrational and, soon to be released, Irrationally Yours), - Ed Diener (“Dr. Happiness”), - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (author of Flow), By taking this course, you will discover the answers to questions such as: - Why aren’t the smart-and-the-successful as happy as they could—or should—be - What are the “7 Deadly Happiness Sins” that even the smart and the successful commit?, and - What are the “7 Habits of the Highly Happy” and how can you implement them in your life? By the end of the course, I expect students who have been diligent with the lectures and exercises to not just gain a deeper understanding of the science of happiness, but to also be significantly happier.

Get Details and Enroll Now

OpenCourser is an affiliate partner of Coursera and may earn a commission when you buy through our links.

Get a Reminder

Send to:
Rating 4.8 based on 1,576 ratings
Length 7 weeks
Effort 6 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week
Starts Jun 26 (44 weeks ago)
Cost $49
From Indian School of Business via Coursera
Instructor Dr. Rajagopal Raghunathan
Download Videos On all desktop and mobile devices
Language English
Subjects Social Sciences Science
Tags Social Sciences Life Sciences Personal Development Psychology

Get a Reminder

Send to:

Similar Courses

What people are saying

life of happiness

The Coursera Course A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment enriched my life a whole deal.

A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment is possible.

It's been my pleasure taking "Life of Happiness & Fulfillment" course.

I greatly enjoyed this course A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment.

As a result of this class "I feel happier" The course "A Life of Happiness and fulfillment"is a totally enriching course.

A life of happiness and fulfillment is a great course... Actually I finished it, but I want to go through it again, as it is a really wonderful course with lots of concepts about happiness which is explained in a scientific manner.

"A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment" is easy to follow, light-hearted and inspiring.

A life of Happiness and Fulfillment is a great course.

Not only is it highly recommended, but I dare to say that it changes my life in the best... A life of Happiness and Fulfillment is a great course.

this course ( A LIFE OF HAPPINESS AND FULFILLMENT) gave me a great sense of awareness and has increased my happiness level.

I love this course as it provided both intuitive and scientific underpinning of the basis of the many skills for a life long practice to have a life of happiness and fulfillment.

A life of Happiness and Fulfillment :) - This is one of the finest course I've ever taken online.

I can not wait to continue a Life of Happiness and fulfillment with more tools to utilize helps us to train ourselves to be more content it's helpful.

It provides a lot of insights into ways to lead a life of happiness and fulfillment.

Read more

easy to follow

It is easy to follow.

The course content is very helpfull , easy to follow and practice.

It is all based in scientific research, very well organized, fun, easy to follow and effective - my happiness levels increased during the course.

The happiness exercises were very well created and easy to follow.

Prof. Raj's delivery of the material is not only lighthearted, entertaining and easy to follow, but also incredibly insightful and captivating.

The lectures are broken up into short segments, good flow and key messages very well highlighted, so very easy to follow and absorb.

Shared feeling with a friend who recommended this course to me Very nice and transparent course, easy to follow and it stays interesting until the last lesson.

It is very well structured, easy to follow, well documented, funny and very usefull.

Easy to follow.

Prof Raj has been presented the course in a simple easy to follow language and helped us to explore what he taught using simple weekly exercises.

Love the professor, great material, easy to follow along.

Prof Raj speaks so eloquently thats easy to follow him.

Incorporated a great deal of common practices in simple, easy to follow format.

Although at first glance, the content may seem theoretically heavy and dull, he teaches in an entertaining way without jargon, and with lots of anecdotes and metaphors, making it easy to follow, and most of all, fun to learn.

Read more

guest speakers

A lot of guest speakers from different universities in the United States were, in their field of expertise, lifting this course to the highest level possible.

The list of guest speakers is just awesome, and the additional material amount just let you go as far as you want to in this field.

Moreover, students will learn about great book recommendations and the guest speakers that appear in the class are excellent!

I appreciated all of the guest speakers / interviews, which showed the multidisciplinary nature of the topic as well as its importance in the personal, social, and even national spheres.

On paper I didn't do the assignments but I actually did everything suggested in the course and it really has helped my happiness, satisfaction, self-compassion, and I now chase flow rather than superiority.Thank you is not enough, I'm so grateful to all the staff, Raj, and all the guest speakers.

He clearly had way more info than he could go through in six weeks -- you could tell by the number of guest speakers, extra research students could do.

Loved the material, loved the professor, loved the guest speakers, and loved the assistant.

The video's are humorous, engaging and with so many guest speakers you are exposed to many varied viewpoints, which sets you off researching.

The inclusion of various guest speakers, video and film clips, and a good dose of humour (only occasionally flat) all helped make this a very enjoyable 6 weeks.If you have a curiosity about happiness, especially your own, but a mindset that values the evidence over other's opinions, then I strongly recommend this course.

Excellent tips for being better everyday :) A really great course with great guest speakers and masterfully delivered by Professor Raj!

Very upbeat and enjoyable with lots of interesting guest speakers.

Fun, practical and informative, quite some interesting guest speakers as well!

Read more

es un curso

Excelent, very usefull and enjoyable Es un curso que todos deberíamos tomar, está bien estructurado, academicamente impecable y muy provechoso para la vida.

Es un curso Fantastico!!!

Es un curso muy bueno, ya que te va llevando a tomar responsabilidad por la propia felicidad, reflexionando qué hacemos para evadir dicha responsabilidad (7 "pecados") y qué podemos hacer de forma muy práctica y aplicable en la vida diaria (7 hábitos) para tomar nuestra responsabilidad.

Es un curso no solo para tomarlo una vez, vale mucho la pena repasarlo nuevamente, pues se sigue aprendiendo en cada ocasión, nos hace enfocarnos en lo verdaderamente importante y nos enfoca a ser felices!!!

Es un curso muy interesante, que permite ver la vida de manera mucho mas armoniosa, entender cosas complejas que no se ven a simple vista.

Es un curso muy divertido, me hizo reflexionar mucho acerca de cuales eran mis objetivos de vida, si en realidad mis preocupaciones cotidianas correspondían a mi ideal de felicidad.

very nice course Es un curso increíble!

Read more

dr. rajagopal raghunathan

Dr. Rajagopal Raghunathan is an excellent speaker, and he added great videos of recognized specialist in the theme.

Thank you Dr. Rajagopal Raghunathan for extremely inspiring and good seminar Simply amazing.

Thank you Dr. Rajagopal Raghunathan and team for developing this course!

Además del Dr. Rajagopal Raghunathan, que es un excelente expositor, hay muy buenos videos de especialstas muy reconocidos.

Dr. Rajagopal Raghunathan, the teacher, is a very compassionate and funny person, so it makes the course so much more fun.

Read more

friends and family

(Even friends and family have commented on the change.)

As I was taking this course, I would tell friends and family about this course and the wealth of information it had to offer.

I've shared several of the sins and corresponding habits with friends and family members.

I shared its teachings with friends and family, out of the belief that it is valuable information which will improve their quality of life.

Read more

look forward

The course was something to look forward to.

I bought your book too, "If you are so smart, why aren't you happy" which seems to cover everything the class did and that will be an excellent help post-class for tune-ups and recollection of good habits and tactics.I look forward to taking more classes with Professor Raj and his assistant Katherine.

I look forward to continuing the mindfulness practice.

Plus, I look forward to practicing many of the suggestions for years to come and reading some of the recommended books.

i HAVEN'T MADE IT PAST mODULE 1 DUE TO VARIOUS SETBACKS BUT I FEEL MUCH HAPPPIER THAN STARTED.I look forward to starting again on the 15th of February!

I look forward to the lectures :) i am a much happier person.This class helped me tremendouslyto see the glass half full(maybe even more than half full)rather than half empty.Thank you Dr.

I look forward to continuing to enhance my skills with the many resources made available in this course.

Read more

los ejercicios

Me encantó los ejercicios, en especial el del perdón y tres cosas con un toque ya que me enseñó que tengo que apreciar cada momento que la vida me da con todos sus pequeños detalles.

me gusto mucho el curso y creo que esta muy completo de hecho esta muy recomendable, me encantaron los ejercicios y la colaboración de cada uno de los doctores que aportaron sus estadística, sus estudios sobre los temas, muchas gracias!!!

excelente curso me gustaria que en lugar de tener subtitulos se doblara al español ya que asi se harian los ejercicios sin tener que estar leyendo las indicaciones Thank you so much for making me have a very happier life!!

Los ejercicios al final de cada módulo también muy buenos para aplicar lo aprendido en la propia vida.

Gracias por el curso, realmente hay cosas que olvidamos hacer en el cotidiano y tanto los ejercicios como los contenidos apoyados en la ciencia y en experiencias personales fueron no sólo últiles sino también gratificantes.

Un curso excelente, el Prof. Raj explica en términos sencillos y comunes los pecados que disminuyen la felicidad y aquellos hábitos que la incrementan, los ejercicios son fáciles.

Los ejercicios son fabulosos.

Read more

happy smarts

Happy Smarts’) “Happiness course” is very exciting to me.

Happy Smarts and the whole team.

Happy Smarts for curating such a beautiful course!

Dr Raj Happy Smarts smiles in the videos and enthusiastic interaction inspires to learn to be HAPPY.This is my first online course and highly appreciate the inputs from the entire team.

Happy Smarts!

Happy Smartsand the Happiness Team Excellent course on whats important in life.

Read more

eye opener

The course has been a real eye opener .

The course was an eye opener - as it cleared many misconceptions regarding HAPPINESS.

A great eye opener for my life , family , but tests your observing power .

THE COURSE HAS BEEN SUCH AN EYE OPENER AT DEFINING ONE SELF,THE JOURNEY OF LEARNING THE WRONG AND COORECTING IT TOO.IT HELPED IDENTIFY AND SIMPLFY FRO ME MY LIFE..IT CONNECTED ME TO MYSELF,...I CAN SAY I UNDERSTAND BETTER,,I GAINED INSIGHT AND WITH THAT THE ABILITY TO ACCEPT MY SELF AND MY SITUATIONS AND ALSO TO CONNECT THE DOTS AS I CAN SAY..THANKS A LOT A BIGGGG LOT..TO EACH AND EVERY ONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE TEAM OF COURSERA THIS COURSE IS EXCELLENT...PROF RAJ YOURE TOO GOOD!!!!!

This course has been really eye opener.

Read more

thought provoking

Birds eye view of MBA was very thought provoking and summed up the entire session differently and was very insightful.Thanks a lot Prof. Raj and team for the ALOHAF course.

Prof Raj Raghunathan and team have done a super job in putting together a fun, thought provoking and a potentially life changing course.

Unsurprisingly I did not want to do this but would like to finish what was a very interesting and thought provoking course and the presentation was excellent and deserves 6 stars... the prof is a star.

Interesting and thought provoking material, all very well presented and referenced.

A very engaging course, enjoyed it throughout, is thought provoking and creates a lot of self awareness.

Read more

teaching style

Prof Raj is excellent with this teaching style and convincing abilities.

I can't say enough wonderful things about Dr. Raj's teaching style and manner.

Good information and excellent teaching style.

I am very much impressed by the teaching style of professor Raj Raghunathan Muy bueno!!!

I like the professor's teaching style and the class content very much.

Read more

Careers

An overview of related careers and their average salaries in the US. Bars indicate income percentile.

Independent Book Reviewer $44k

Book Clerk $45k

Book Department $46k

Property Book Technician $50k

Book page $51k

Staff Book Designer $54k

Book Acquisitions Editor $59k

Property Book $65k

Happy Consultant $68k

Book Editor Consultant $70k

Head of Talent and Happiness $78k

Retired happy and smiling $104k

Write a review

Your opinion matters. Tell us what you think.

Rating 4.8 based on 1,576 ratings
Length 7 weeks
Effort 6 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week
Starts Jun 26 (44 weeks ago)
Cost $49
From Indian School of Business via Coursera
Instructor Dr. Rajagopal Raghunathan
Download Videos On all desktop and mobile devices
Language English
Subjects Social Sciences Science
Tags Social Sciences Life Sciences Personal Development Psychology

Similar Courses

Sorted by relevance

Like this course?

Here's what to do next:

  • Save this course for later
  • Get more details from the course provider
  • Enroll in this course
Enroll Now