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Learner Reviews & Feedback for A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment by Indian School of Business

4.8
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5,808 ratings

About the Course

What are the determinants of a happy and fulfilling life? This is surely one of life’s biggest questions, and a question that has interested many of our ancestors. Buddha famously gave up his kingdom in search of happiness. Several Greek philosophers (from Aristotle to Epicurus and Plato to Socrates) had their own views on what it takes to be happy. And of course, we all have our own theories about happiness too. How valid are our theories? Until recently, if you wished for an answer to this question, you would've been forced to base it on discussions with spiritual leaders. Or, if you were lucky, you could've based it on late-night (and perhaps intoxicant-fueled) conversations with friends and family. Happily, all that has changed now. Over the past decade-and-a-half, scientists have gotten into the act big time. We now have a pretty good idea of what it takes to lead a happy and fulfilling life. This course, based on the award-winning class offered both at the Indian School of Business and at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, developed by Prof. Raj Raghunathan (aka "Dr. Happy-smarts") draws content from a variety of fields, including psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral decision theory to offer a tested and practical recipe for leading a life of happiness and fulfillment. Although not mandatory, reading Prof. Raj's forthcoming book, titled If you're so smart, why aren't you happy? can help you review and assimilate the material covered in this book at your leisure. For Coursera learners alone, the hardcover version of the book is available for a deep discount of 50%, plus shipping and handling. You can order the hardcover for 50% off by writing to Aaron at: Aaron@800ceoread.com. Please mention that you are a student of the "coursera happiness course" in your email. The course will feature guest appearances by several well-known thought leaders, including: - Dan Ariely (author of Predictably Irrational and, soon to be released, Irrationally Yours), - Ed Diener (“Dr. Happiness”), - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (author of Flow), By taking this course, you will discover the answers to questions such as: - Why aren’t the smart-and-the-successful as happy as they could—or should—be - What are the “7 Deadly Happiness Sins” that even the smart and the successful commit?, and - What are the “7 Habits of the Highly Happy” and how can you implement them in your life? By the end of the course, I expect students who have been diligent with the lectures and exercises to not just gain a deeper understanding of the science of happiness, but to also be significantly happier....

Top reviews

CR

Apr 23, 2018

Excellent course, Professor Raj is great. I found it very helpful to see what types of personality traits I have that may contribute to my happiness level and possible approaches to dealing with them.

LS

Jan 23, 2017

This course is a joy! I cannot recommend it highly enough. Practical advice based on long-term research, interviews with worldwide experts on the topics discussed, and a fabulous professor. So great!

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26 - 50 of 2,036 Reviews for A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment

By ARKAPRAVA G

May 24, 2021

This course is a joy! I cannot recommend it highly enough. Practical advice based on long-term research, interviews with worldwide experts on the topics discussed, and a fabulous professor. So great!

By Ingrid G

Dec 20, 2018

I am sure it might be very useful for others. But I am guessing I must be super extra amazingly happy right now.

By Filip

Nov 3, 2016

My happiness went down after this course. Only positive thing was that i realized how messed up my life is.

Overall its a interesting course, it is obvious that a lot of effort was made while creating it and you can definitely learn something from it

By Peter S

Jul 23, 2017

This course lost me in week three because I could never get a clear picture of the assignment. There was a video that was supposed to come up, but never a link for it.

Just too many errors in the organization to add to my happiness.

Try something else.

By Lanesha S

Nov 4, 2020

I'm withdrawing from this course. When I enrolled, I did not realize it had so many peer-graded components, and in general, it can be difficult to get those sections completed.

By Charalambos T

Dec 2, 2015

Way too many weekly lectures, way too many. In addition to that, lots of the lectures were too long and sometimes even meaningless. It was impossible to follow through.

By Jay S

Oct 19, 2017

Lots of cultural bias.

By Valentina P

May 2, 2017

Quiero dar mi opinión en mi lengua pues me permite expresar algunas sutilezas que estimo necesarias y eso lo puedo hacer solo en mi idioma nativo. Estoy muy agradecida de este curso pues me ha permitido reflexionar sobre la felicidad, el concepto y como algo que se puede construir, eso es muy esperanzador. Me ha permitido poner atención en las herramientas que tengo o que puedo desarrollar para lograrlo; también me ha permito repensar en que para lograr algo hay que empeñarse. Me ha movilizado de tal modo que me siento con ganas de transmitir parte de lo aprendido a mis cercanos. Agradezco muy sinceramente a los profesores del curso especialmente al profesor Raj por la organización, la selección de los temas y la forma entretenida de entregarlos, ademas de la gran bibliografía y citas de grandes investigadores sobre el tema. Seria bueno mas adelante dictar una segunda parte del curso que pueda incluir temas como por ejemplo la procrastinación y como manejarlo, los conceptos de una vida "slow", efectos de la mueca de la sonrisa en el bienestar.

Me parece genial que mantengamos el contacto.

Gracias de nuevo y felicidades.

By Muthukumar K

May 6, 2017

This is an excellent course for everyone which will help us to find deep meaning and explore happiness in our life. Prof Raj has been presented the course in a simple easy to follow language and helped us to explore what he taught using simple weekly exercises. He has used the knowledge of happiness gained by professionals across the world and invited them for guest lectures. I have never seen a course which was so well coordinated with over 20 guest lectures. Thank you Prof Raj and team, I thoroughly enjoyed the course week after week and seen my happiness score increased towards the end of the program.

I strongly recommend this program to everyone to explore happiness and lead a meaningful life. The content might look heavy with lot of videos, exercises and assignment. But once you sustain and complete, you will really see a change in your thought process and get a different perspective about life. Life is Now. Enjoy.

By Solovyeva A

Aug 16, 2016

This was my first experience on Coursera, and I'm sure now - it is not the last.

The course gives you an opportunity to see how the way of your thinking affects your happiness. The patterns you don't notice, which are easy to understand and notice as soon, as you hear about them. No magic, just science. And as a result you can feel happier. And what is most important - you feel happier not because of some metaphysical stuff or because of someone fixing all your problems. You feel happier due to your own conscious actions in you mind, in your way of thinking. You yourself make you feel better. And you can see each step you take.

And of course, big thank you to Prof. Raj and his team for creating this course, for systematizing all the information to be easy understandable. And which is even more important - it's easy to put in practice.

Also Prof. Raj is very nice! And I think he is a trustworthy person : )

By Keri A B

Apr 21, 2018

Stunning! Well presented with clarity and humor. Professor Raj has excellent presentation, everything is well understood and very captivating. I appreciate the numerous studies referenced; my reading recommendations file is well stocked!

This is not just a class but an experience. I found the weekly happiness exercises to be extraordinarily life-changing. I am a better person after taking this class. I bought your book too, "If you are so smart, why aren't you happy" which seems to cover everything the class did and that will be an excellent help post-class for tune-ups and recollection of good habits and tactics.

I look forward to taking more classes with Professor Raj and his assistant Katherine. Thank you so much, I really appreciate the opportunity and valuable information. Namaste!

By Wai Y L

Feb 15, 2020

Thanks Prof. Raj and the whole team of the course. I love this course very much. I bought Dr. Prof's book "If you're so smart, why aren't you happy?" from an online bookshop about three months ago. One day I felt quite down and then saw the book from my shelf. I started reading it and found that this book is really suitable for me to read. Then I went to coursera and enrolled the course. I started feeling much calm and rational from my heart. And my happiness level increased!! I enjoyed studying the course so much! The book "If you're so smart, why aren't you happy?" is the most academic, systematic and scientific course or book about happiness I read! I strongly recommend the course to everyone who want to live happier in their life!

By Sanyam S

May 22, 2020

Caution:- This course can change you and may make you incredibly happy.

This is one of the best online courses I have ever taken. It's great to see Dr. Raj's efforts along with his team how simply and efficiently they have designed this course. I can't believe that this course has ended. I never wanted it to end though. The quizzes and surveys are just so good. I know what areas I can improve my life in. I am feeling way happier after knowing happiness habits and sins. Thanks a lot to everyone who has put the effort into making this course. Extreme grateful to Coursera and the ISB team for making such gem of a course. Just go on now and take this course :)

By Katarzyna L

May 18, 2020

This is an excellent course in which you can see not only a philosophical aspect of happiness,but also a scientific one. An abundance of videos, studies, examples, menthors and specialists. This course shows clearly what we do wrong on a daily basis and how to implement happiness habits and exercises, with all the explanation you would need. Some of these habits and exercises proved to be life-changing for me. Thank you very, very much.

By Suravi D B

Apr 13, 2020

This course is just amazing. I am very satisfied with the course. I am feeling a lot happier after taking this course, I have learnt so many things from this course and I must say that Professor Raj is so amazing. The way he explained everything is so great. I am very grateful to him. I wish I could meet him in real to learn more about happiness. I completed the course and also got a certificate. I am overwhelmed. Thank You Coursera.

By Mona S G

Nov 20, 2018

I found Dr. Raj course very useful and enlightening because it shows how the science of happiness is relevant to Asians as well, and even third world countries. This is a perspective that would not have been had if I took a western version of this course. My time was well spent in this class and I am very grateful to Prof. Raj.

By Débora B e S

Jan 27, 2019

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to make this wonderful course, meet incredible people and their experiences. I never imagined that this course was so deep and that it would be a watershed in my life. I must say, nothing was more efficient, to give me back my happiness than this course!

By Bethany T D

May 21, 2020

I am a psychotherapist and have been highly recommending this course to my clients. Lots of scientific evidence is provided regarding techniques that truly are effective in creating more positivity and success for individuals. Thank you!

By David M

Oct 4, 2018

The course was well designed and the information was very useful.

The videos were well done and easy to follow.

The exercises were also good learning experiences.

By Екатерина А М

Sep 28, 2018

This course is a must for everyone! The results exceeded my expectations! I thank the professor and his team for their powerful research and practical experience!

By Roxane A

Dec 7, 2018

très instructif, renvoie des émotions positives

By Lothar H

Oct 26, 2015

the contents of the course were very good. It is essential material that everyone should learn about as early as possible in their life. It should be essential learning in each school. All the material is based on scientific facts. there are, however, reasons why I did not rate this course with 5 points. The amount of material takes a lifetime to digest and adopt. To cram this into a few weeks was not the appropriate way to teach it. there were way too many videos one was supposed to watch within a single week. Sometimes even the summary videos for a single week took 20 minutes. That is just not right. I was so busy memorizing the material that I did not find the time to adopt it in my daily life. what a pity. it will take me many months to really digest the material

By Sushaan M

Apr 29, 2016

Excellent course content, a little longwinded on the videos, and therefore more diffuse than it needs to be, however a hugely important topic, and presented multidimensionally in a way that draws in the latest research as well as ancient wisdom .

The happiness framework gives a clearcut way of action-ing Happiness hacks into ones life. Even the apparently simple task of Defining Happiness makes it clear how we are unclear & confused about happiness, to the extent that we keep measuring the wrong metrics.

Ones that could never result in happiness!

By Anne H

Feb 18, 2016

I liked it a lot. Not sure I learned a whole lot new, but isn't it so helpful to spend 6 weeks immersed in practice? I think so! He clearly had way more info than he could go through in six weeks -- you could tell by the number of guest speakers, extra research students could do. He did a great job condensing and picking out the most basic and core elements. A lot of group effort -- first course I've taken where I've seen how MANY people were involved in pulling it off....

By Zhe L

Feb 15, 2017

The conclusions in the course are not convincing, or at least not presented in a convincing way. I have many doubts about the argument given in the lectures, and I myself can offer many counterexamples and counterarguments. I just cannot believe in Raj's theories when they are so weak and therefore this course will in no way increase my level of happiness.