How To Be Happy
by Taylor Shea Carroll and Dr. David Hoffman
During his first lecture of the year for Foundations of Biochemistry, Dr. David Hoffman draws a single line across the board, slowly filling it in with the milestones of life on Earth. He adds the emergence of prokaryotes, atmospheric oxygen, and tetrapods. After many chalk strokes representing billions of years, he draws a small dot at the very end. “And that right there, that’s us.”
Dr. Hoffman teaches about life, and in doing so, he also teaches about what it means to be a person. When I asked him what he wanted to share for “Beyond the Beaker,” he thought for a moment before settling on a simple but incredibly complex idea, how can we become happier?
After reading an article several years ago on the benefits of helping others, Dr. Hoffman took the practice to heart. “If I’m feeling depressed, anxious, guilty, or just negative, which happens every now and then, I find that one way to get out of feeling bad is to do helpful things for other people,” says Hoffman. Whether it be in the classroom or the grocery store, he focuses on puting positivity into the world around him. “You tend to remember these small, random acts of kindness, and they have a larger impact on people’s lives than you think. Which is all the more reason to do them.”
It seems like a simple practice, but when you’re struggling, the effects can be tremendous for you and the people you interact with. Hoffman shared one of the struggles that led him to change his focus, stating, “I actually had a cancer diagnosis in August thirteen months ago, which is why I didn’t teach last fall. I was pretty freaking depressed and scared. It had me freaked out. And I found that a way to make me feel more optimistic and calm was, instead of sitting and playing all these awful scenarios; get up, move, and do something nice for someone.”
It was that shift that allowed him to take the bad days and create some good out of them. And to make sure he didn’t forget, he started to document the interactions. “I actually have a google doc to myself that has all of this stuff on it,” he says. By writing down and reflecting, he finds a joyful reminder that he can continuously return to, telling himself, “Absolutely do not forget this. It’s a lifesaver.”
Dr. Hoffman, as an educator of young pre-health professionals and researchers, knows the stresses that often affect his students. “If you’re replaying your inadequate MCAT score or the B-minus on that test, just go do something positive for someone else,” he encourages, “If you’re not a sociopath that might be helpful.”
Within CNS, there are thousands of young adults building the foundation for their future careers. And that thought can be a little terrifying. Dr. Hoffman says that,“Training in the sciences opens up a lot of possibilities in people’s careers to do good things, anything from science education, healthcare outcomes, solves technological or energy problems, environmental problems; there is all kinds of room for positivity in science.” You just have to remind yourself what you are doing and why you are doing it.
Toward the end of our interview, Dr. Hoffman reflected a bit on his happiness practice, “I think I’ve been working on this project essentially my whole life. It’s about learning through losing. You get yourself into a bad place somehow or another, and you try to see what got you out. Make a note of it and it becomes a tool.” When you retrain your brain to focus on the positive, the moments of joy, the other things seem to feel a lot less important. Hoffman reminds his students that, “It’s all gonna work out. Everybody here has some aptitudes, otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. And it’s not always OChem. It’s not always what’s on the MCAT or the LSAT or the SAT. Just find it. Hopefully, it does something good in the world.”
Before finishing up he smiles and says, “I’ve gotta remember this. I’ll add this to the Google doc.”
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