This year’s Academic Convocation was led by Dr. Laurie Santos, the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast. Santos spoke of how young people, specifically college students, have been suffering. She proposed to teach an academic class covering what the science of psychology tells us to do in order to protect our mental health and become happier overall. She called the class “Psychology and the Good Life” to catch students’ attention. It became apparent to Santos that students were willing to do something to change their stress levels when twelve thousand students showed up for her first class in 2018. Santos noted that in 2024, there are a lot of reasons for people to feel hopeless, frustrated, and scared. She emphasized, “It is normative to experience negative emotions about what’s going on in 2024… focusing on our happiness doesn’t mean we ignore the real reality of some tough situations.” She proposed the question, “How can you do better?” Santos then listed ten insights for people to do better and become happier.
Insight number one was to prioritize our happiness. She touched on how many college students may use their time in college to work hard and get good grades and then reap those benefits when they have graduated with a career. She discussed how being happy now and focusing on your positive emotions will benefit you in the long run.
Insight number two showed us one way we can prioritize our happiness: by socializing. Santos explained how studies show that spending time genuinely connected with your friends and family can make you happier than having a self-care night.
Insight three covered healthy habits like good sleep and physical exercise. Insight four elaborated on how we need to be present in the moment and savor good things in our lives. Santos described how the act of “mind wandering” is exhausting, yet we spend most of our time doing it. She recommended trying meditation or simple mindfulness practices. Coinciding with this is insight number five, to be present in the moment even when it is bad. Santos emphasized how suppressing our emotions can lead to memory loss and even cardiac stress. She proposed the acronym R.A.I.N to help us better understand what to do in these hard moments. R.A.I.N stands for Recognize, Acknowledge, Investigate, and Nurture which are all tactics to better understand our emotions and urges while taking care of ourselves in difficult moments.
The following insight, number six, tells us to be self-compassionate. Self-criticism and perfectionism is only harmful to your future self; Santos urged us to invest in our future selves by being compassionate now. Insight number seven shows us that stress doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, if we choose the correct mindset, stress can be beneficial. Santos described how stress is our body’s reaction to help ourselves. To use stress to the best of your abilities, change your outlook to believe stress is boosting your performance, not weighing you down. Insight eight prompts you to focus on your signature strength, whatever it may be, and curate that into your school work or career to find purpose and meaning within your work. Insight nine is to prioritize true fun. Santos recommended completing a “fun audit” which entails journaling about some of the top three moments in your life when you had the most fun. After identifying these moments, ask questions about them and seek out more experiences with the same characteristics to implement more fun in your schedule. Finally, insight number ten is seeking out more time affluence. Santos explained how many students are suffering from “time famine,” we don’t have enough time in the world to complete all our assignments and extra activities. She recommended building a schedule that maximizes your time but also utilizing the bits and pieces of time that we ignore. Santos called this “time confetti.” For instance, if you just finished a task and have fifteen minutes left before you have to leave to go somewhere else, we use this time scrolling through our phones instead of doing something little that could boost our happiness. Santos explained how these bits and pieces of time add up to a big portion of our day. She recommended spending these moments of our day, our time confetti, in ways that make us truly happy. A time confetti to-do list should be added to our calendar with tasks full of happiness and joy.
