How to Feel Happy

A simple smile can be the first step

- Arthur C. Brooks

NORMAN ROCKWELL CREATED some of the most iconic images of | 20th-century America. His paintings, such as the 'Four Freedoms' series from World War II and The Problem We All Live With from the civil rights movement, were intended to evoke the best in people who saw them: hope, solidarity, courage, justice. Much of his work also inspired happiness, capturing scenes of lighthearted joy.

And yet Rockwell himself struggled with happiness. In 1953, he moved to a bucolic small town—not for its natural beauty and peace but because it was home to a psychiatric hospital where he and his wife could receive treatment for chronic depression. There, he was a patient of a famous psychoanalyst, with whom Rockwell racked up large bills.

RESEARCH SHOWS THAT NOT ONLY CAN YOU BRING JOY TO OTHERS EVEN IF YOU'RE UNHAPPY BUT ALSO THAT DOING SO IS A RELIABLE WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR OWN WELL-BEING.