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How to Be Happier? Take a Different Route to Work

Could taking a more pleasant route brighten your day? Find out how to be happier through happy mapping.

Daniele Quercia is working to take mapping to a new level.

When you map out a route, which course do your take? If you said shortest, you wouldn’t be alone. Most of us set up our daily routines to be the most efficient. But are we missing out on life’s beauty and our own happiness in the process?

How to Be Happier? Take a Different Route to Work

Quercia, a social media specialist at Yahoo Labs in Barcelon and formerly a Horizon senior researcher at The Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, compiled research on which areas of Boston were more emotionally pleasant to commuters. The result? Traveling routes that are more pleasing would not only bestow more beauty, quiet, and happiness the subjects’ lives, but would only add a few minutes to their route.

Related: Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Offer Self-Driving Cards Within 3 Years

Hmmm. Sounds like a stop and smell the roses type thing, right? Yes, kind of. It means rather than keeping your head down and just getting through life, go out of your way (even just a little bit) to add more good stuff and you will feel happier.

Doesn’t sound so tough. Maybe we ought to add this to the resolutions list.

Until Quercia comes up with an app for happiest route mapping, it’s up to us. Watch his TED Talk above.

More on Technology and Happiness: 8 Shopping Apps to Help You Shop Smarter; Start a Gratitude Journal & Feel Happier Today

[Image of woman on bike via Shutterstock]

Written by Liz Thompson

I am an organic beauty expert, writer, and mom of two young environmentalists who can already spot a toxic product when they see one. Read more about me at Organic Beauty Source.com, and find me on , Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.

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