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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Science of Well-Being by Yale University

4.9
stars
37,372 ratings

About the Course

NEW TEEN VERSION AVAILABLE HERE: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being-for-teens 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. THE SCIENCE OF WELL BEING WAS PRODUCED IN PART DUE TO THE GENEROUS FUNDING OF THE DAVID F. SWENSEN FUND FOR INNOVATION IN TEACHING....

Top reviews

BT

Nov 26, 2019

Loved the practical "rewiring" assignments that helped me with understanding what really makes us happy. Not only this course changed my life perspective but enriched the lives of the people around me

RK

Jun 26, 2023

Great content! Well paced. Videos and readings are helpful. The class concludes with a 4 week challenge designed to make a lasting impact, which I found very insightful. I highly recommend this class.

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601 - 625 of 10,000 Reviews for The Science of Well-Being

By Paulien v D - v D

Jun 5, 2020

My compliments! Thank you so much!

I am a radiologist, mother of 2 kids, living in the citycentre of Amsterdam, lots of stimuli all the time. A wonderful life but it felt like I was racing through life. Your course makes me step out of the ratrace and appreciate my life and therefore does make me a lot happier, truly amazing, thank you!

There are 2 subject I was surprised not to hear about in this course. The first is sex, the second are psychedelics (microdose). My apologies if I am to upfront, but well, I am Dutch .

Again, thank you so very much!

Pien

By IKHLAQ A

Jun 20, 2023

excellent work. The way positive Phycology was introduced and discussed was well structured and its knowledge was shared in a pretty fluent way (Flow). It awakens interest in this newly learned field and that was the main success of lecturer. WEL DONE and count me in for any such course in future. It changed my perception about things and also included in my way of living. I feel overwelled by the community understanding and commitment to self well being . Let me suggest change in course title a little if i may. The Science of actually Living .....

By Juli M

Jul 7, 2020

I am truly grateful to Yale University for provide these courses for us to continue our learning and better understand how to engage in the challenges we face and cultivate our own happiness. To build and develop healthy consistent habits in our lives. Professor Laurie Santos has provided us the the foundation and tools to living and designing our own happiness and being more accountable for our habits. The research has given us the tools and foundation to be more proactive and help us to be the change within our own lives.

Thank you and God Bless.

By Jennifer H

Jun 10, 2020

This was an amazing course. By implementing what I have learned in class, I have the tools to increase my overall happiness all of the time. The method used in teaching this was simple to grasp and made it easier to explain to other people. I feel blessed having the opportunity to participate. Earlier this week I listened to Dr. Santos' podcast with Lewis Howes that aired on June 1, and found myself shaking my head yes the whole time. I was already in my rewirement weeks and not only was everything said science supported, but Jennifer supported.

By Daniela G

Aug 8, 2023

I am so amazed. This course is awesome and somehow I feel sad that it has finished. I have learned so much and it really made a difference in my life. Unbelievable that it is for free, with such an excellent level of quality. No scam. Further I would like to tell other people who did that course: Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I realized that it increases my happiness, too, reading that other people's happiness has improved after taking the course and how they have developed strategies that have changed their mindsets. I wish you all the best

By Kelly R

Jul 1, 2021

This was a very practical course that supported the application of well being skills. It modeled that mindfulness and wellbeing are skills that can be taught, practiced and skillfully used in everyday life and to great personal benefit. As a teacher with a heavy caseload and mentorship role, I have used the course to navigate my own work/life balance and support new teachers in a very demanding career with mindfulness framing. I would highly recommned this course. The workload and lecture seriers was manageable with a full time job and family.

By Irene Z

Jul 20, 2020

Professor Laurie Santos is engaging and the way she cured scientific research into the course topics is brilliant. As an aspiring educator, I want to learn from her the way in which she can simply explain complex research in a way any student can understand, and at the same time demonstrating vast knowledge of the literature. Moreover, the contents of the course are effective in improving well-being. Despite the pandemic and the effects of it gradually deteriorating my work and personal life, my overall well-being score increased from 8.06 to 8.9.

By Cira C

Jun 7, 2020

I enjoyed the psychological framework of the class, the empirical references and the tangible tools to put the teachings into practice. I am very appreciative for this course during these stressful times and think everyone would benefit from taking this class. I've taken many courses in science, many of which included psychology and enjoyed them, learned from them and/or possibly improved in someway. However, I think this is the only course that actually made me happier; it made be better my state of being and that is invaluable in any experience.

By Jenny F

Dec 31, 2019

I really enjoyed this class. It also woke me to a realization of how I’ve been perceiving my level of well being, my happiness, and really a better realistic way I should be looking at it. It has been fascinating.

I also appreciated the layout of how the class was taught, the ease of being self paced and the personal satisfaction of completing the assignments and by default of the nature of the class, my personal goals. I think many people could benefit not only from this specific course, but from the less traditional way of taking the class.

By Lidia L

Mar 30, 2022

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for have gotten the opportunity to follow this course. This is a very good program. You have endless opportunities to learn something new. Savoring my willingness to learn something and enhance my abilities in life. My overall experience was great, being motivated to continue applying what I have learned beyond this course. Savoring every moment in my life, continue sharing my experiences with the people around me and living a life I desrve. I am extremely Grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

By Elena R

Jun 17, 2020

I really enjoyed this course. It made me realize the importance of knowing what is important and what things actually make us happy. It kept me occupied during lockdown and I am really grateful because it was during this time where I really noticed that the things I missed the most were: hanging out with my friends and family, going for walks, and experiences in general. Being kind, being grateful, having a good mental health (achieved by social connections, exercise and a good mindset) and savour things on a daily basis are the key to happiness.

By Linda L

Jul 5, 2018

Don't let Dr. Santos's laid back style fool you. There is a lot to be learned from this course and taking the rewirement challenges seriously can be life changing. Learning about numerous studies each week that back up the validity of activities that lead to happiness was the affirmation I needed to push myself to adopt some new behaviors and emphasize others with gusto. There is much to gain from the course, and it's not just for youngsters. I retired a few months ago and have found that improving my well-being is an energizing, achievable goal.

By Gloricel C L

Oct 7, 2020

I loved it! Ms. Santos was great and for the first time in my life I felt that I was taking a course that was just a pleasure to be part of and I've had my fair share of classes in college. As I explained earlier in the course, this course has highlighted and validated all the things I intrinsically knew and has shown me ways to keep those things more present in my life, like kindness, savoring and gratefulness, experiences are better than stuff, etc. But most importantly, this course has provided strategies to better apply it to my daily life.

By Katrijn T

Jul 5, 2020

I did this extra course because I am already working with the methodes Dr. Laurie Santons explained as a coach / trainer and I wanted to develop myself even more. Even if I knew the core of what this was about, all the details, scientific research and practical tools were from great added value and most of it completely new! It was again a sign that you can always learn new things, always develop yourself further even if you THINK you know already a lot about the topic. I enjoyed this course very much and share the new insights with my coachees.

By Thomas M

May 16, 2020

It was very easy to follow the content. What needs to be learned at this level got covered beautifully, without bringing in any complications. But at the same time, references were provided for those interested.

Interviews from external experts whose work that were covered in the course was another good thought.

Above all the practical focus and the need to implement the learning from the course and then completing the final assignment. This helped me bringing in some good practices in life and I am able to continue the same so far. Thanks a lot.

By Carmen R

Jun 22, 2020

The course has helped me to understand so much about what will lead to feel a greater sense of well-being and happiness. I am fascinated by how our minds are set to almost cause us dissatisfaction and then the healthy strategies we can adopt to introduce a happier mindset. I had no idea that gratitude and kindness were so powerful or that mind wandering was so distracting and unhelpful.

Dr Santos is an engaging and empowering teacher and the course is well planned. This was my first experience of an online coursera and has been excellent.

By Nakul T

Jun 1, 2020

The science of well being course run by Ms. Santos and team at Yale University was a life saver for me during this COVID lockdown phase in Mumbai with my family in the UK.It kept me on an even keel and I enjoyed every moment of the lectures, the reading and the recommended TED talks. I enjoyed doing 1 rewirement every week. For my final rewirement I chose meditation which is going to be my lifelong companion now and this has increased my happiness quotient significantly. Heartfelt thanks to Yale University, Coursera and Ms Santos and her team.

By Lars L

Jan 27, 2021

This was an awesome and very helpful course. Maybe it was more or less easy for me to finish it, because i deal with stress myself (and looking for ways to reduce it) and i have to take care for a lot of employees.

I recommend this course, because you get a lot of examples how you can get happier next to the science background about the human behavior. I also recommend the podcast "The happiness lab". Perfect Addition to the course.

It already helped me a lot to change my behaviors and be a little bit happier and less stressed most of the days.

By Irene E

Jun 15, 2020

I believe that if Laurie taught rocket science, I would begin to understand rocket science.S She is an exceptionally motivating and talented scientist.

Before I had taken the course, I thought that my skills in gratitude, kindness, meditation and feel-good sports, healthy sleep and diet are a mix of character, personal adaptability and genetics. I now realise that what I had arrived to intuitively can also be learnt "in advance", and that wellbeing is quantifiable, i.e. is a scientific subject.

My discovery was savouring, such a powerful tool!

By Kathryn P

Aug 2, 2020

I loved the course Professor Santos thank you. I am starting a business around Wellbeing and from the age of 22 I decided my happiness was the most important thing after my mum passed away suddenly. I now have the tools to know what really works which I have known of some but not the others. I am grateful to have done this course and I want to teach others about the benefits of Wellbeing. I loved learning the science behind things and the research having worked in Universities in Australia for most of my career. Thank you for the course.

By Claudette E

Jul 25, 2020

This course has changed the course of my future from living a pretty good life to living each day with gratitude, happiness and life fulfillment. I hold an undergraduate degree in Developmental Psychology and nearly all the material in this course was brand new to me. The coursework presented is rich and available to anyone to signs up and actually does the coursework assignments as the course as designed.

Thank you Dr. Laurie Santos, Yale and Coursera for your lifelong gift of happiness and continued well-being to millions of human beings.

By Tatiana I R B

Jun 29, 2020

Excelente!!! me hizo ver cosas que estaba ignorando y que contribuyen mas a mi felicidad, y lo mejor de todo es que son cosas gratis, savorer el momento, meditar , caminar o correr, pensar en los obstáculos que debo superar para obtener mis metas, ser agradecida con todas las personas que han dado cosas bellas y me han enriquecido y agradecer a aquellos momentos no tan buenos que me dan buenas lecciones de vida. Muy importante dejar a un lado las redes sociales y dejar a un lado, o minimizar en gran manera las comparaciones con otras personas

By Lisette P

Jun 2, 2020

The overall experience of taking the Science of Wellbeing was fantastic. Albeit it was definitely a weird time in history to be studying wellbeing, but it definitely helped me step back from my daily life which was upended by the pandemic and truly channel my energy into things I knew from our lectures would benefit me even when I didn’t necessarily buy into it at first. I really enjoyed the lectures and additional reading resources. The assignments were helpful in applying the lesson material and actually did increase my happiness over time!

By Eva S M

May 30, 2020

I have enjoyed doing this course. During these hectic times of online teaching primary school children (because of quarentine), I couldn't wait to have some time to continue with this course. It was very informative and inspiring. I've recommended the course to a couple of friends. I've also encouraged my students (5th graders) to start practicing gratitude and savoring, many of them are really enjoying it. Wether you are not feeling your best or just like reflecting on how different factors affect our happiness, I truly recommend the course.

By Jakub G

Sep 6, 2018

its amazing how small things adds up to bigger things. once you know that for instance social connection makes your day brighter, you will think twice before ditching possible short conversation with stranger or neighbor.

I liked that there were assignments, not validated, but something that you can do. if you cheat you cheat yourself. If you will do everything as assignment and will not fall into a trap of "measuring everything" (more likely comparing like "I did not do enough good things today..."), your happiness level will go up. try it!