(1) When I learned that the most popular course in the history of Yale University—a psychology class designed to teach students how to become happier—was available online to anyone who wanted to take it, I decided I had to see what it was all about. After all, I’ve been writing about happiness for years, offering techniques and advice from researchers who found that this idea or that habit can boost well-being. I was curious to see what Yale professor Laurie Santos was recommending, but I assumed I’d already be familiar with many of the concepts. So I invited my boyfriend, Ian, to take the course with me. I wanted to see how someone who hadn’t heard it all before reacted.

(2) Santos’s online course consists of 19 hours of video lectures and is supposed to take ten weeks to complete, but Ian and I spent three months soaking up what she had to offer. We learned that the things we tend to think will make us happier—bigger paychecks, nicer homes, trimmer bodies—don’t actually add joy to our lives. But practices such as exercising more, socializing, getting enough sleep, and prioritizing free time over making money do. “These constant practices are really what’s required to boost your happiness,” Santos told me after Ian and I completed her course. “It’s like a tire that you put air into. Occasionally it leaks, and you have to put more air into it. It’s not a one-time thing where you learn it and you’re good. You actually have to put the work in.”

(3) Although part of the course focuses on the desire to get good grades and land the perfect job, we realized that these lessons aren’t helpful just for college students; Ian and I are both middle-aged, with six children between us, and most of what Santos said was relevant to us. “What the science suggests is that these tips apply cross-culturally, across ages, and no matter what job you have,” Santos says. After taking the course, I’m convinced that anyone who adopts and practices the strategies that Santos suggests can truly become happier.

(4) Reconnecting with a friend can boost happiness, but so can a meaningful encounter with a stranger. “One of the most complex things we can engage with is another person’s mind,” says Juliana Schroeder, an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the researchers cited in the course. Ian loves chatting with waiters, and I noticed him doing it even more after we learned about the benefits of such interactions.

(5) He beams afterward. Tim Bono, who teaches his own course on happiness at Washington University in St. Louis, offers this caveat: Facebook friends don’t count.

(6) In fact, many studies have found that the more you use social media, the less happy you are. In his book, Happiness 101: Simple Secrets to Smart Living and Weil-Being, Bono argues this is because social media—especially picture-heavy platforms such as Instagram—showcases things others have that we don’t, making us want more and appreciate less.

(7) Santos echoes this idea in her course. She warns of ways our minds trick us into feeling less happy, such as by comparing ourselves with others who seem richer or more accomplished. And with the volume: of carefully curated digital personas online, the comparison is far less likely to be favorable—or, for that matter, true.

(8) Volunteering to help someone or buying a coffee for the person behind you in line can make you happier than doing self-indulgent things such as getting a massage or a pedicure. “You just feel good about yourself as a person,” says Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California, Riverside, another of Santos’s sources. “Whereas if you’re treating yourself, it might actually lead to feelings of guilt afterward.

(9) If you perform the same act of kindness over and over, it may begin to feel like an obligation or a monotonous chore. Ian and I held doors open for people, let extra cars merge in front of us on the highway, and helped colleagues solve computer problems. The reactions we got made us feel better about ourselves, and they didn’t cost us anything, unlike an indulgent massage.

(10) Kindness brings other happiness benefits, too, says Raj Raghunathan, author of If You’re So Smart, Why Aren ’t You Happy? Helping others takes the focus away from our own worries and problems, which can boost happiness. And because it doesn’t result in the guilt that more self-serving behaviors can, being generous won’t increase levels of the stress hormone Cortisol.

(11) Perhaps surprisingly, kindness improves overall physical health. Unsurprisingly, healthier people tend to be happier. Burn some calories. Exercise causes hormonal changes in the body that make you feel good and help interrupt negative thoughts.

(12) According to research cited in Santos’s course, clinically depressed people who exercised regularly improved just as much as those who took antidepressants. And after ten months, the exercisers were less likely to relapse.

(13) “Getting out of a depression is not exactly the same as happiness,” says Dr. K. Ranga Krishnan, a professor of psychiatry at Rush Medical College in Chicago. “But anecdotally, most people who exercise will tell you they feel better.” Anyone who has ever experienced a runner’s high will surely agree.

It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s attitude is________towards Santos’ strategies.