Happiness is often thought of as an emotion, not a state of being; rather than pursue happier lives, many choose to pursue happiness momentarily. As both a psychology professor with two decades of experience and the previous Head of Silliman College at Yale University, Dr. Laurie Santos notices this tendency particularly in the youthful generation. Appearing as one of six speakers in the 2025-2026 Distinguished Speakers Series, Dr. Santos presented an hour-long snippet of her Yale course Psychology and the Good Life at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Jan. 14, presenting both a lecture and Q&A with host Doug McIntyre.

“I tend to use a lot of logic when I’m dealing with my own happiness, so I really wanted to learn what other people thought about happiness,” said senior Tim Zaw, an Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum (ERWC) student who attended the speaker series. ERWC is a college-prep course taught at Arcadia High School (AHS) to prepare students for college-level English within the California State Universities.

The 17 ERWC students and chaperones from AHS attended the Distinguished Speakers Series on a field trip, exploring their curriculum regarding societal expectations and personal fulfillment. Having listened to an episode of Dr. Laurie Santos’ podcast The Happiness Lab, students were offered complimentary tickets to the Pasadena Distinguished Speakers Series–secured by ERWC teachers Ms. Jenny Landis and Ms. Lesley Lee.

Entering the auditorium, the students stood out slightly amongst the older population that made up most of the audience. Dr. Santos began her lecture acknowledging that while they likely hadn’t been in a classroom for a long while, the audience would receive some valuable lessons on mental health.

“I think the topic is valuable for all ages, and I hope that the content at least made everyone more reflective of their daily practices,” said Ms. Shannon Will, AHS assistant principal and one of the chaperones for the field trip.

Tip 1: Happiness Matters for Performance

Dr. Santos backed the idea that people who are happier in the present are more likely to succeed in the future. She also correlated work satisfaction and company net-worth, humorously concluding that–when investing in a company’s stocks–check the work environment satisfaction beforehand. 

Tip 2: Make Time for Social Connection

While seemingly a simple no-brainer, social connection is not only vital to human society, but also mental health. But Dr. Santos pushed even further, championing “real-time” social connection as the most beneficial. Whether it’s speaking to a friend at a coffee shop, playing a multi-player game together, or even hopping on a call or FaceTime, real-time socialization is the key to greater happiness even when we feel the least like reaching out. Rather than isolating oneself for self-care–though there is a time and place for it–Dr. Santos urged her audience to meet with their friends or call a loved one even if it feels draining, because of the significant boosts in happiness that have been seen after social interactions.

Tip 3: Helping Others Makes People Happier

In a contemporary time of self-care and advocating for one’s own voice, the thought of helping others has seemed to take a backseat, according to Dr. Santos. However, she pointed to studies involving college students, where researchers gave students money to spend on themselves or others. While people believe that happier individuals are more willing to be kind, this study proved the opposite; those who chose to spend the money on others rated their emotions as positive and happier overall, demonstrating that kindness leads to happiness rather than the other way around.

Tip 4: Make Time for Gratitude Every Day

Dr. Santos pointed to journaling as an extremely effective method of not only mindfulness, but promoting happiness and gratitude long-term. Particularly, Dr. Santos was quick to point out the impacts of gratitude from others; while studies showed that receiving thank-you letters boosts mood temporarily, sending or reading a thank-you letter to someone else can increase someone’s happiness for up to three months.

“It’s easy to get buried in negativity, [but] focusing on what is going right, and deliberately thanking those around us for the little and big things is so important,” said Ms. Will. “And the fact that it makes us happier is just a win-win!”

Tip 5: Healthy Practices Matter More Than We Expect

Increasing happiness includes physical activities too; while healthcare often focuses on prescription medication to treat mental illnesses like depression, Dr. Santos has found that even a half hour of cardiovascular exercise can equate to a prescribed dose of antidepressants. Most of all, she emphasized, was sleep. Dr. Santos pointed particularly to young adults that make up her lectures at Yale University, who often get fewer than five hours of sleep per night.

Tip 6: Be in the Present Moment and Savor the Good Things

In a study where participants were randomly paged throughout their day, just under 50% of participants responded to their page confirming that they were not “paying attention to what they were doing.” This astounding statistic particularly amused the audience, but Dr. Santos pointed out how this lack of attention can lead to less happiness over time. 

Zaw resonated with this, reflecting that teenagers “are always thinking about college. We’re never thinking about how to spend time with our family, or how to improve our relationships with our parents. We think pessimistically…make meticulous plans for the future and leave very little room for improvisation.”

Dr. Santos compared mindfulness to a skill, and meditation as a method of training that skill. Rather than using meditation as a method of achieving concentration, it’s a “stretch” for the brain, preparing it for sharper attention in the future.

Tip 7: Be in the Present Moment Even If It Feels Yucky

Dr. Santos followed up her prior tip by acknowledging that the present may not always bring good things. She highlighted a simplified four-step process for mindfully processing negative emotions, including: recognizing the emotion, letting it be, investigating the emotion, and nurturing oneself with care and compassion.

Tip 8: Give Yourself the Gift of Self-Compassion

Broken down into three steps, the key to self-compassion requires: mindfulness, recognition of normalcy, and self-kindness. However, Dr. Santos emphasized the difference between self-kindness and self-indulgence, a difference that she described as “viewing yourself as your friend.” While rest and relaxation are important, Dr. Santos still emphasized that holding yourself accountable to your own goals is similar to keeping a close friend on track toward success, building both self-compassion and compassion toward others.

Tip 9: Love Your Job By Focusing On Your Strengths

Termed “signature strengths,” certain skills or values often stand out to an individual, making them more important or prominent in their lives. Signature strengths should be prioritized in one’s life, particularly through work; Dr. Santos recounted stories of hospital janitors who found their work extremely fulfilling, largely due to “job crafting,” where they found purpose and drive to complete their job every day.

Tip 10: Become Wealthy in Time Not Money

Dr. Santos began her final tip with a surprising statistic: humans have more free time now than in past decades. While this suggests that humans should have more time for leisure, the opposite is becoming true. A majority of people feel “time famished,” where they feel trapped with no time for leisure or personal affairs. Thus, Dr. Santos referred to this as “time confetti” because free time is sporadic and broken up. She encouraged her audience to utilize their confetti to focus on one of the 10 tips she had given that night: call a friend, journal, or practice self-compassion.

As the lecture–with it’s cited studies, textbook analysis, and projected data–drew to a close, Dr. Santos answered audience questions on-stage. Dr. Santos left the crowd with a final message: happier people are people with more time, well-connected communities, and outlined values surrounding their priorities and interests.

“I think science can make you understand happiness,” said Zaw. “But I don’t think it can help you actually achieve it…I think you really have to go out in the world instead of reading a research paper.”