These university-backed personal development courses offer deep learning opportunities that can actually help improve your overall happiness.
Let’s address the elephant in the room right away. Happiness is not something that can be taught – or learned in a course. Of course, I know that.
Happiness is something that comes from within. It is the culmination of lifestyle, mindset, authentic living, and the daily choices that effect all of the above. It doesn’t come from a set of lectures and recommended reading, or from a course completion certificate.
Happiness comes easier for some than for others, and there are real barriers that can make feeling true happiness difficult. And sometimes those barriers are due to brain chemistry or past traumas that haven’t healed. In those cases, professional help can be necessary.
But one thing experts seem to agree on is that true happiness takes some intention. Articles on happiness often advise readers to practice daily gratitude, exercise self-care, and maintain healthy relationships. And what I’ve found is that most advice on happiness points back to a continual intention to be happy.
Five Personal Development Courses to Improve Happiness
These personal development courses, offered by top universities, like NYU, University of Michigan, and even Yale, combine science and application to equip the learner with practical knowledge and tools that can be used to improve overall mental well-being.
The best part? You can take them for FREE. No strings attached. No credit card info required, no free trial period with the requirement to subscribe to finish the course.
How is that possible? Through Coursera, you can sign up to “audit” a course with no fee. This means you have access to ALL course materials – recorded lectures, reading materials, quizzes, and assignments. But you do not earn university credit or a certificate of completion. (For many courses, you can pay tuition to earn credit/certificate if you choose.)
The Science of Well-Being by Yale University
Time Commitment: 10 weeks, 2-3 hours per week
Self-Paced: Yes. (This course does come with weekly deadlines, but there is no penalty for ‘late work’ and deadlines can be reset at the learner’s discretion.)
What the course is about: In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change. You will ultimately be prepared to successfully incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life.
Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential by McMaster University
Time Commitment: 4 weeks, 2-3 hours per week.
Self-Paced: Yes. (This course does come with weekly deadlines, but there is no penalty for ‘late work’ and deadlines can be reset at the learner’s discretion.)
What the course is about: Mindshift is designed to help boost your career and life in today’s fast-paced learning environment. Whatever your age or stage, Mindshift teaches you essentials such as how to get the most out of online learning, how to seek out and work with mentors, the secrets to avoiding career ruts (and catastrophes) and general ruts in life, and insights such as the value of selective ignorance over general competence. We’ll provide practical insights from science about how to learn and change effectively even in maturity, and we’ll build on what you already know to take your life’s learning in fantastic new directions.
This course is designed to show you how to look at what you’re learning, and your place in what’s unfolding in the society around you, so you can be what you want to be, given the real world constraints that life puts on us all. You’ll see that by using certain mental tools and insights, you can learn and do more—far more—than you might have ever dreamed!
This course can be taken independent of, concurrent with, or subsequent to, its companion course, Learning How to Learn. (Mindshift is more career focused, and Learning How to Learn is more learning focused.)
Finding Purpose and Meaning In Life: Living for What Matters Most by University of Michigan
Time Commitment: 4 weeks, 1-2 hours per week.
Self-Paced: Yes. (This course does come with weekly deadlines, but there is no penalty for ‘late work’ and deadlines can be reset at the learner’s discretion.)
What this course is about: In this course, you’ll learn how science, philosophy and practice all play a role in both finding your purpose and living a purposeful life. You will hear from historical figures and individuals about their journeys to finding and living a purposeful life, and will walk through different exercises to help you find out what matters most to you so you can live a purposeful life. As an added benefit, you will also have complimentary access, for a period of time, to the Purposeful App. This groundbreaking mobile and desktop app is designed to help you build a purposeful rhythm into each day, so you can bring your best self to what matters most.
By the end of this course, you will:
- Understand that having a strong purpose in life is an essential element of human well-being.
- Know how self-transcending purpose positively affects well-being.
- Be able to create a purpose for your life (don’t be intimidated, this is different from creating “the purpose” for your life).
- Apply personal approaches and skills to self-change and become and stay connected to your purpose every day. We are thrilled that you are here! We look forward to hearing and learning from you throughout this course!
De-Mystifying Mindfulness by Leiden University
Time Commitment: 6 weeks, 4-7 hours per week.
Self-Paced: Yes. (This course does come with weekly deadlines, but there is no penalty for ‘late work’ and deadlines can be reset at the learner’s discretion.)
What the course is about: Mindfulness has become the basis for numerous therapeutic interventions, both as a treatment in healthcare and as a means of enhancing well-being and happiness. For millions around the world, mindfulness has become a life-style choice, enhancing and enriching everyday experience. Mindfulness is big business.
But, what actually is mindfulness? Is it really good for you? Can anyone learn it? How can you recognize charlatans? Would you want to live in a mindful society, and would it smell like sandalwood? What does it feel like to be mindful? Are you mindful already, and how would you know? Evolving from the popular Honours Academy course at Leiden University, this innovative course combines conventional scholarly inquiry from multiple disciplines (ranging from psychology, through philosophy, to politics) with experiential learning (including specially designed ‘meditation labs,’ in which you’ll get chance to practice and analyze mindfulness on yourself). In the end, the course aims to provide a responsible, comprehensive, and inclusive education about (and in) mindfulness as a contemporary phenomenon.
Engineering Health: Introduction to Yoga and Physiology by New York University
Time Commitment: 6 weeks, 3-5 hours per week.
Self-Paced: Yes. (This course does come with weekly deadlines, but there is no penalty for ‘late work’ and deadlines can be reset at the learner’s discretion.)
What the course is about: This course gives you access to an exploration of physiological systems from the perspective of overall health and wellness. In particular, a focus on yoga, meditation and mindfulness as a therapeutic intervention in chronic illness and long term treatment. This course is intended for yoga practitioners and teachers, as well as college students and medical practitioners looking for a deeper understanding of the physiological benefits of yoga. The value of taking this course is to understand the impact that yoga can have on reducing stress, and aiding in healing or preventing physiological pathologies.
Throughout this course, we will learn about different physiological systems and highlight yoga practices that can influence different systems and reduce pathology. Reading material will include analysis of scientific studies that have successfully utilized yoga practice as a tool for treatment of various illnesses such as: hypertension, stress, diabetes, insomnia, chronic pain and PTSD. In order to understanding these conditions, lectures will provide a complete understanding of the correlating physiological system. The weekly course assignment will include physiology lectures, a weekly yoga practice, suggested readings, and optional discussions for a total of 3-5 hours per week.
The course will provide a tremendous amount of information and hands on experience for those interested in alternative health perspectives and a more in depth scientific understanding of this ancient healing method.
While none of these personal development courses is going to give you the key to ultimate happiness, they can increase your awareness and understanding of what it takes to achieve happiness in your life. You can be confident of the quality with these university-backed courses and the flexible timeline allows you to complete the work at your convenience. And the best part – you can’t beat FREE!
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