Stanford happiness class proves popular, helpful
Like most Stanford students, master's candidate Nick Enge has a jam-packed schedule. Besides taking a full course load, working toward a degree in Earth Sciences, he has two campus teaching jobs, acts in musical theater, takes social dance classes and is writing a book.
Enge admits that his full schedule can be stressful, but this quarter, he has made time to serve as teaching assistant in one more class that he calls "the most valuable": the happiness class.
Sixty-four students escape from the campus hustle and find tranquillity for two hours a week in the lower level of a campus library. There, they might start class by telling the person next to them about a positive experience from the day, or by updating their gratitude journals, listing three things for which they're thankful. Or, they might simply close their eyes and sit silently, concentrating on relaxing tense muscles and breathing deeply.
The techniques sound simple and maybe too good to be true, but Fred Luskin, one of the course instructors and author of the book "Stress Free for Good: 10 Scientifically Proven Life Skills for Health and Happiness," champions them, especially for Stanford students.
"These students are stressed," he said. "They're all high achievers, but they don't know how to turn that drive off. The consequences are exhaustion, a sense of feeling older than your peers, and lack of relationships. This class helps them learn they can be productive without the wear and tear."
Tragic awakening
Luskin and his co-instructor Carole Pertofsky, director of wellness and health promotion at Stanford, began teaching the happiness course in 2007, after four student suicides rocked Stanford the previous academic year. A university task force convened to improve student mental health, but the majority of the recommendations focused on aiding students who were already on the brink of disaster. Luskin and Pertofsky wanted to try a different approach.
"Their class is not just about avoiding catastrophe," said a former student, senior Elise Gibbs. "It's about promoting wellness so you don't get to catastrophe. This class isn't just for people who aren't happy. It can improve the quality of life for anyone. Absolutely anyone."
One important message the instructors hope to convey is that racking up accomplishments won't necessarily lead to fulfillment.
"Achieving the most for yourself doesn't lead to the kind of happiness you think it will," Luskin told a student who questioned how she could reconcile her desire for a balanced life with the expectations that, at Stanford, you need to be "the best."
He added that people who are in the best position for happiness are the ones who have strong relationships, and "interconnected webs" of people on whom they can depend for fun and support.
Ironically, the Princeton Review consistently ranks Stanford in the top five universities with the happiest students based on students' response to the survey question, "Overall, how happy are you?"
But an expectation of happiness on campus, Pertofsky said, can make it even more painful for struggling students who feel as if they're the only ones who aren't thriving.
"In this culture of excellence, it takes a lot to admit when you're hurting," she said.
Popular class
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.
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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