Love quiets fear.
– Octavia Butler

The Happiness Files is a book written by Arthur C. Brooks, best-selling author and and professor, built on his Atlantic column, “How to Build a Life,” and his Harvard Business School course, “Leadership and Happiness.” He explores the science of joy and contentment and offers scientifically supported suggestions for improving well-being. Here are some:

“1. Fight fear with love.
To reduce fear, we need to bring more love into our lives…

2. Try measuring your happiness to improve it.
Understanding the measurements of happiness can itself make you better at improving your own well-being…

3. Get up and move.

4. Making other people happy makes you happy, too.

5. Consider giving something up.
The most compelling happiness benefit of voluntary sacrifice is that it fosters self-mastery, or—the term that social scientists prefer—’self-efficacy,’ which is confidence in one’s ability to control one’s own behavior.”

In the book, Leading Early Childhood Organizations, one of the contributors also writes about the importance of Arthur Brooks’ first principle:

“Fear and love are always at odds with each other,” writes Nancy Rosenow. “Almost every day I find myself confronted with the choice to take a deep breath and move through fear into a more loving space, or ride the wave of fear into negativity and doubt…

“With practice, I have been able to keep fear from controlling me so much. I’ve learned that fear is quite the liar; it often tries to convince me that I can’t take the time for human connection or loving interactions because there’s an ’emergency’ that’s more important…

“Over the years, I’ve started dealing with fear’s lies in a gentler way. I treat them like I would a young child…with reassurance and firmness. Often I’ll say out loud to myself, ‘I choose to be loving right now. Love is more powerful than fear.'”