Demand for Luskin and Pertofsky's classes is high. The fall class is full, and in a similar summer course for graduate students, 75 applied for 30 spots. Pertofsky said each year there are students - she estimates 10 to 12 - who take the course at the recommendation of the university's mental health counselors.
In past classes, Luskin and Pertofsky surveyed students' stress levels during the first week of class, and again during the last week of class. On average, Pertofsky said, students were 27 percent less stressed at the end of the class.
Course assignments include examining research on what leads to happiness - and what does not. One week, students must hold a discussion with people outside the class to share class techniques. Another week, students must seek out "invisible people" on campus, such as food service employees, janitors or groundskeepers, and thank them for the ways their work contributes to life at Stanford.
Pertofsky tells a story of one former student, an athlete with a tough exterior, who begrudgingly told the woman who cleaned his dorm bathroom each morning that it was nice to have a clean shower every day.
"He said the woman burst into tears and said she'd cleaned at Stanford for 16 years and this was the first time anyone had ever thanked her," Pertofsky said.
Finding happiness at Stanford
Fred Luskin, instructor of the Stanford happiness class, said that the simplest definition of happiness is "wanting what you have." Conversely, the simplest definition of stress is "wanting something to be different."Below are five techniques Luskin teaches for reducing stress and increasing happiness.
-- Keep a daily gratitude journal, listing items for which you feel grateful.
-- Perform a meditation practice, or simply a few minutes of deep breathing and quiet reflection on something that made you happy. Consider what you can do to achieve that happiness again.
-- Make a habit of sharing the highlights of your day with someone close to you.
-- Practice forgiveness routinely.
-- Construct a list of all activities and experiences that relax and rejuvenate you. Use items from this list to manage your daily stress.
