Do you think the lockdown will make us re-examine the things that make us happy?

You make an interesting point that genes play a big role – as much as 50% – in determining how happy we are. Doesn’t that kind of make our efforts to be happy futile?

You’ve written that in these days of lockdown we can seek happiness from doing meaningful work. Does it include household chores, caregiving, teaching our kids... things that we usually pay to get done so that we can do our professional work?

Almost everyone is reporting a rise in anxiety levels during this lockdown. Do the reasons go beyond health and career worries to how much we just miss human contact?

Many people are worried that social distancing will be the new normal.

Dr Arthur C Brooks is a Harvard professor, behavioural social scientist and bestselling author who has launched a new column on happiness when we are at our most anxious. In an interview to Shobita Dhar , he shares some simple happiness hacksThe lockdown affects different people in different ways. Some are just trying to get through it, others are noticing that the lockdown, while not what we had hoped for, provides opportunities for personal growth. Time has slowed down, insofar as we aren’t expected to travel or run off to work and meetings (at least not in person). A lot of people are telling me that this is giving them a chance to think more deeply about their lives.It is important not to let this opportunity pass. While we are locked down, I recommend that we set time aside each day to think about some of the deeper issues, including the sources of our happiness. Sit in meditation and prayer each day, read more sacred and philosophical texts, and set a goal to understand life better when we emerge from this period.Think of this lockdown as a miniature vanaprastha — a “retiring into the forest.”When I first learned that happiness was 50% genetic, I was, ironically, depressed. But that was the wrong reaction. To begin with, this knowledge is powerful for understanding one’s “baseline.” My parents were pretty gloomy, for example — they were intellectuals and artists. Remembering this, I don’t beat myself up so much when I am feeling down. Second, if even just 10% of my happiness is under my control, I should do everything I can to optimise it. The only thing that brings futility is to be a victim — to dismiss happiness as something we can’t understand, and that is completely beyond our control. Even 10% is a gift.If I am engaging in any activity with a sour attitude, simply trying to dispense with a responsibility, or doing it only for my own personal gain, it is a wasted effort. There is a great Spanish Catholic Saint named Josemária Escrivá , who taught that we should “sanctify our work,” no matter what it is. The way we do it is by dedicating the product to the good of others, doing it to the best of our abilities, and making an effort each day to get better at it.I find two main sources of anxiety among people I talk to: uncertainty and loneliness.The first is uncertainty about the future. This is extremely disconcerting for the human mind, which craves certainty so as to help us feel secure and safe.But uncertainty reminds us that we cannot control the future. In fact, all certainty is an illusion. To be fearful about the future is choose to live in a world that does not exist — and thus to be less than fully alive. This is a lesson I learned from a teacher I met in Palakkad named Sri Nochur Venkataraman. He is a devotee of Ramana Maharshi , whose works I love.For those who are fearful, I recommend meditating on this truth: “I do not know what the future will bring. But I do know that am alive and well right now. I will not waste the gift of this day.”Loneliness is very normal, and the discomfort it brings owes to a lack of a neurotransmitter in the brain called oxytocin. This is also known as the “love molecule” which is produced in response to physical touch and eye contact. When we don’t get enough of it — like at the present time — we crave it and are very uncomfortable.A mistake many people make is to binge on social media, which is basically “social junk food.” Research shows that you literally get lonelier when you use it. The reason is that it stimulates almost no oxytocin (no touch, no eye contact). Much better to use technologies that involve face to face contact, such as Zoom, FaceTime, and Skype.Research shows that oxytocin peaks when you hug someone for 22 seconds. So make a house rule: Everyone gets a 22 second hug every two hours. (And when the lockdown is over, keep doing this!)People are not created to be socially distant. We are created for love and closeness. Of course, people will be careful as long as they must. But when it is safe, we will go back to our old, happy ways.