TIME Ideas psychology Getty Images

Eric Barker writes Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

Meditation.

I listed it as one of the 10 things should you do every day to improve your life. It can boost happiness.

Via Shawn Achors The Happiness Advantage:

Take just five minutes each day to watch your breath go in and out. While you do so, try to remain patient. If you find your mind drifting, just slowly bring it back to focus. Meditation takes practice, but its one of the most powerful happiness interventions. Studies show that in the minutes right after meditating, we experience feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness, lower stress, even improve immune function.

Increase meaning in life and social support:

The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n = 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms.

Stretch your attention span:

This article shows that a group randomly assigned to 5 days of meditation practice with the integrative bodymind training method shows significantly better attention and control of stress than a similarly chosen control group given relaxation training.

Go here to read the rest:
What Can Make You Happier, Increase Your Attention Span and Even Make You More Courageous?