That includes happiness skills. That’s right: the Scouts are recognizing their own for achievements in “The Science of Happiness.” The badge for this skill is pictured here. As Girl Scouts rep Alisha Niehaus tells NPR, to earn the badge, which is considered a “skill building award,” a Girl Scout must “work for one month on a strategy generally believed to increase personal happiness.” And this isn’t just your run of the mill, childhood happiness. The badge and approach toward earning it were developed with “positive psychology” researcher Martin Seligman. Niehaus says that these emphasize values like, for example, being forgiving to others and noting how this effects them. To learn more about the new badges, visit the Girls Scouts’ blog. Or, hear NPR’s full report, here. For more about the work of Martin Seligman and his books Authentic Happiness and Flourishing, see Elisha Goldstein’s Mindful.org article, “Avoiding the Flourish Trap.”
