What does it really take to be happier?
This week at I Am Here, we’re asking: What does it really take to be happier?
- Is happiness something that happens to us, or something we can actively build?
- What small, everyday choices are quietly shaping how we feel, without us noticing?
- If you could make one change this week to feel a little better, what would it be?
Happiness can feel like a big, elusive thing , something other people seem to have figured out, or something we’ll get to once life settles down.
But the research tells a different story. Happiness isn’t usually found in big moments or major life changes. It tends to live in the small, repeated choices we make each day — how we pay attention, who we connect with, and whether we take a moment to notice what’s going well.
This week’s Trio explores some of those choices, and what the science of happiness can teach us about living a little better, starting now.
What Are We Watching This Week?
This week, we’re watching How to Increase Your Happiness, an animated recap of a TED Talk by David Steindl-Rast.
Most of us assume the connection between happiness and gratefulness is simple: when you’re happy, you feel grateful. But David Steindl-Rast turns that idea on its head.
It’s not happiness that makes us grateful, it’s gratefulness that makes us happy.
This beautifully animated recap explores what it means to truly live gratefully, and how practising gratitude in everyday life can have a real impact on our mental health and wellbeing.
It’s a short, thought-provoking watch that might shift the way you look at an ordinary Tuesday.
Watch the full video here (6-minute watch)
What Are We Reading This Week?
This week, we’re reading I Study Happiness for a Living: 12 Little Rules for a Happier Life I Wish I Learned Sooner, by Gretchen Rubin.
Rubin has spent more than 12 years studying happiness and human nature.
In this article, she distils more than a decade of research into 12 short, honest observations, the kind of insights that are easy to overlook but hard to forget once you’ve read them.
Among them: Consistency matters more than intensity; self-compassion and growth can co-exist; and, the habits that stick are the ones that fit who you actually are, not who you think you should be.
It’s a genuinely useful read, and one of those articles you’ll find yourself coming back to.
Read the article (4-minute read)
Who Are We Quoting This Week?
“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”
– John Lennon
A reminder that happiness isn’t measured in achievements or years — it’s measured in connection, in moments, in the people around us.
At I Am Here, we believe that mental health and wellbeing isn’t just about managing difficulty. It’s also about noticing what’s good, and choosing—where we can—to build more of it.
This week, we’d encourage you to try one small thing. A moment of gratitude. A conversation you’ve been putting off. A walk without your phone. It doesn’t have to be big to make a difference.