(CNN)What do you need for a meaningful life? Even as 2020 strained communities around the world, it offered some object lessons in living well.
In the widespread nostalgia for pre-pandemic gatherings and rituals, we saw just how much we depend on other people. When medical and other frontline workers risked their own health to support entire communities, the world watched the everyday impact of lives dedicated to service.
"There are so many things that we are going to learn from 2020," said Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, science director of the University of California, Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. "We've really had a coming to terms with how important our collective experiences are to health and well-being."
And even as they, like the rest of us, coped with an ongoing pandemic, researchers studying the science of well-being uncovered key insights into what makes life meaningful. The findings include the benefits of empathy, gratitude and cooperation, with ideas for increasing happiness in your own life — or even in your country.
Simon-Thomas joined a team from the GGSC in December to select the 10 research findings from 2020 that shed light on the good life, and offer a positive road map for weathering the months and years to come. Here's what the team found.
1. Choose empathy for a kinder, more compassionate year
Scientists already know that empathy is both a personality trait and a learned behavior. That's great, because it means that you can increase your empathy no matter your disposition. In turn, that can help forge stronger, more supportive relationships.
Being empathetic is about more than skill building, though. Your motivation to be empathetic matters, too, according to two studies published this year, one by Harvard University researchers and another from the University of Toronto.
Wearing a mask in public helps protect the community from the spread of the coronavirus. A man wears a mask as he visits Times Square in New York December 10.
Participants in the Harvard University study wrote letters describing the importance of empathy. Researchers speculated that it might boost the participants' motivation to be empathetic, and the strategy worked: A few months later, those same participants demonstrated more empathetic behavior.
Do it: Try the study on yourself. Write down the benefits of empathy in a journal entry, detailing why you think it's a valuable trait. It's a solid way to recharge your empathy after a difficult year.
2. Promote social justice to forge a happier society
Fair societies are happier, found a 2020 analysis of European Union countries using the EU Social Justice Index and reports of life satisfaction.
It's a strong correlation. Social justice was second only to social capital — that's how researchers refer to our complex networks of relationships — when it came to predicting each country's happiness.
Why? One of the study's authors, Isaac Prilleltensky, dean of education and human development at the Unviersity of Miami, has argued that a society's commitment to social justice shows individual citizens that they are valued by their broader community. That, in turn, leads to greater happiness.
Do it: Want a happier community? Advocate for poverty reduction, education, health equity, labor market access and intergenerational justice where you live. Those are the metrics used for the EU Social Justice Index that researchers linked to each country's life satisfaction.
3. Pick up the phone and call
Researchers studying the science of well-being agree that human connection is key. But in a pandemic, what really works?
A couple celebrates Thanksgiving with friends by having dinner together over a Zoom video call November 22 in New York.
Your voice, it turns out. Phone calls and video calls create stronger social bonds than email or text, found researcher Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing at University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business, in a recent study published by the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Worried that calling will be awkward? You're not the only one to think so.
Many study participants overestimated the awkwardness of voice calls, while underestimating the benefits. That may be one reason some avoid calling altogether, a misunderstanding with real consequences for well-being.
Do it: Instead of tapping out a text or email, choose a video or voice call instead.
4. Reap the benefits of cooperation
Are kids naturally cooperative? Children showed more self-control when working toward a collective goal than an individual one, according to a 2020 study published by the journal Psychological Science.
For the study, hundreds of small children tested their will by trying not to eat a cookie. If they could wait it out for long enough, they'd get a second cookie as a reward.
Here's the twist: In some versions of the test, the kids worked in teams. Together, they did better, earning more cookies for all.
Do it: This study targets kids, but adults can benefit from cooperation, too. If you have a 2021 goal or resolution, consider asking a friend to join you; as a team, you might find even greater success.
5. Variety might really be the spice of life
There is more than one way to live well. Typically, researchers focus on two important metrics for evaluating the good life. One is pleasure; the other is all about deeper meaning.
In a 2020 paper, however, Shigehiro Oishi, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, proposed a new dimension for understanding a life well lived: psychological richness. That term underscores the value of variety, interest and novelty.