It may be possible to learn happiness -- like we might learn to cook or learn to dance -- by merely taking a class. Some refute this idea and believe you can't actually pursue happiness. You either have it or you don't. But some psychologists are embracing a whole new approach to psychology -- they call it positive psychology -- and they say it focuses on training the mind to focus on the past as very positive. It's completely different from traditional psychology where time is spent trying to determine why someone is so horribly sad. This movement, invented by University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman in 1998 when he was president of the American Psychological Association, provides a scientific validated set of exercises -- known as interventions -- that lead happiness seekers to their ultimate destination.

Sherrod Ballentine is one happiness seeker who took a one-day course called Authentic Happiness and How to Obtain It. She continued on with a six-month class on the same subject and is now completing exercises like writing and reciting a gratitude letter to a friend and jotting down three happy events of each day. Ballentine, who was not clinically depressed but wanted to kick up her spirits a notch, says she has found true happiness. "Every day, I feel grateful to wake up this way," she says.

Seligman, who is ironically a gloomy, depressive, pessimistic person, compares happiness coaching to fitness training. He thinks about fitness centers where people are sweating for physical health and he imagines a little room called a well-being center where he walks clients through six to ten weeks of happiness training. People would only pay if they are happier in the end. Others say promoting this philosophy is not such a great idea. People who already feel bad will need to shoulder the burden of feeling defective for feeling bad, says another psychologist. But Seligman says it's old-fashion science really. Happy people don't just feel better -- they are also healthier and live longer and are more productive. And that alone is worth pursuing.

The entire January 2000 issue of the American Psychological Association journal is devoted to positive psychology. Last October, 350 psychologists from 23 countries attended the seventh annual Positive Psychology Summit. The next summit -- this fall -- is cosponsored by Toyota. There is a new journal called Journal of Happiness Studies. An article, Shiny Happy People, appears in the August 2006 Discover magazine. And Seligman has several best-selling books, like Authentic Happiness and Learned Optimism. It is clear that there is a future for positive psychology. And those who support it say the attention this movement is getting is positively overdue.