A prescription for happiness

Tired of searching for happiness? Maybe it’s not as complicated as we all think, says Dr Rangan Chatterjee

- WORDS LAUREN TAYLOR

I think the biggest mistake people make about happiness is they think that someday they’re just going to stumble across it,’ says the hugely popular author, podcaster, and resident doctor on BBC Breakfast, Dr Rangan Chatterjee.

an unhelpful way to think about happiness. Happiness is a skill, and it’s a skill we can all get better at if we know what to work on.’ The 47-year-old, whose book Make Change That Lasts shot to the top of the bestsellers list earlier this year, shares his advice to ‘help people understand what it truly means to thrive’.

Work on your happiness

The three ingredients for happiness are alignment, contentment and control, Dr Chatterjee says.

‘Alignment is basically when your inner values and your external actions start to line up more. Contentment is about regularly doing things that give you that sense of contentment and calm and peace. And control is not about controlling things, it’s about doing things regularly that give you a sense of control over your life.’ This could mean five minutes of journaling each day, or 10 minutes of yoga. ‘Things that give you a sense of control in a world that’s fundamentally uncontrollable.’

Include more joy

We often don’t think about joy and passion as part of health, says Dr Chatterjee, but we should.

‘We think about health as being something that has to be quite hard, and about deprivation and restriction. But there’s really good evidence on passion and joy. We know that people who regularly do things that they love are more resilient to stress, it’s very good for your health.’

It could simply be dancing in your kitchen, getting into a hobby or putting on a video of your favourite comedian for 10 minutes.