Making Australia Happy (ATOM Study Guide)

What is the key to real, sustained happiness? Why are some people perpetually happy while others seem doomed to a life of misery?

In recent years, science has made significant progress towards understanding the concept of happiness, answering questions that have plagued mankind throughout history. Scientists have discovered that happiness is not just a fleeting emotion or an inborn quality that some people are blessed with. Rather, it is a skill that can be cultivated and the knock-on effects can be seen in our brains, bloodstreams and behaviour. What's more, happiness is contagious.

In Making Australia Happy, for the first time ever the latest and most fascinating research on the science of happiness has been compiled, consolidated and taken for a test drive on the suburban streets of Sydney.

In this three-part series, eight ordinary people from inner-city Marrickville embark on an extraordinary journey. Hoping to find greater fulfilment and meaning in their lives, they've signed up to an eight-week happiness program. They'll work with an elite team of experts, and undergo a series of scientifically validated experiments and challenges based on positive psychology, mindfulness and mind-body interventions. What they experience will change their lives, and what they discover could enrich us all.

They'll have their blood tested, their saliva swabbed and their brains scanned, all in the scientific pursuit of happiness. Pushed to their emotional and physical limits over eight challenging weeks, they discover that the road to happiness is full of twists and turns. For many of them, it's uncharted territory.

Do they reach their destination? Can happiness change their biology and the functioning of their brains? And will they unleash a nationwide happiness epidemic?

Curriculum guidelines

Making Australia Happy would be enjoyed by middle and senior secondary students in a number of curriculum areas, but has particular relevance for students of Psychology, Health and Personal Development, Physical Education, Biology, SOSE/HSIE, Australian Studies, Values Education and related subjects.