In all the stress of a college life, happiness can seem distant at times. Stress, worry and fear might be much more common emotions as classes, homework and commitments bury you.

But forcing yourself to be happy doesn’t work; it’s not a switch to be turned on. So how do college students begin the process of changing their mindset toward happiness?

Shawn Achor’s book “The Happiness Advantage” provides a few different activities that can help set you on a path toward increasing your happiness, including keeping a grateful journal, meditation, exercise and random conscious acts of kindness.

For the next four weeks, eight excited participants will implement one of these per week in an effort to see if such simple activities can have a positive effect on their moods.

As part of the series, participants will take short videos, post on social media and write short reflections to gauge how their mood changes over the next four weeks.

We will also seeweekly commentary from Sam von Gillern, a graduate student who teaches a seminar about positive psychology based on Achor’s book.

This week’s activity will keep a grateful journal by writing down three events of the day that made you happy, two things in general that make you happy and one thing you’re looking for tomorrow.

I encourage you to participate with us and let us know your thoughts by emailing me at [email protected].