Finding Happiness

 What is happiness ??

                                - by hotri shrimali

Happiness is the state of feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. From this definition, we can glean a few important points about happiness:

Happiness is a state, not a trait; in other words, it isn’t a long-lasting, permanent feature or personality trait, but a more fleeting, changeable state.

Happiness is equated with feeling pleasure or contentment, meaning that happiness is not to be confused with joy, ecstasy, bliss, or other more intense feelings.

Happiness can be either feeling or showing, meaning that happiness is not necessarily an internal or external experience,Lyubomir both.

What does self-happiness mean?

Although the term is not used very often, “self-happiness” refers to a sense of happiness or satisfaction with one’s self. It is often associated with self-confidence, self-esteem, and other concepts that marry “the self” with feeling content and happy.

In general, it means that you are pleased with yourself and your choices, and with the person that you are.

THE THREE DIMENSIONS OF HAPPINESS

Happiness can be defined as an enduring state of mind consisting not only of feelings of joy, contentment, and other positive emotions, but also of a sense that one’s life is meaningful and valued.

Happiness energizes us and is a highly sought after state of being. But, what components make up happiness?

The regular experience of pleasantness (the pleasant life)

The frequent engagement in satisfying activities (the engaged life)

The experience of a sense of connectedness to a greater whole (the meaningful life)

Although each dimension is important, the happiest people tend to be those who pursue the full life— they infuse their life with pleasure, engagement, and meaning.

Balance in life is another key factor contributing to happiness because the amount of satisfaction derived from a single life domain is limited. One needs to be involved in multiple domains to satisfy the broad spectrum of human needs. As a result, cultivating a sense of balance is crucial for juggling these life domains.

What sources create true personal happiness?

Taking together all the various theories and findings on happiness, we know that there are at least a few factors that are very important for overall happiness:

• Individual income;
• Labor market status;
• Physical health;
• Family;
• Social relationships;
• Moral values;

Can individuals learn how to be happy?

The answer from numerous studies is a resounding YES—you CAN learn how to be happier.

The degree to which you can increase your happiness will vary widely by which theory you subscribe to, but there are no credible theories that allow absolutely no room for individual improvement. To improve your overall happiness, the most effective method is to look at the list of sources above and work on enhancing the quality of your experiences in each one of them.

For example, you can work on getting a higher salary improve your health, work on developing and maintaining high-quality relationships, and overall, find ways to incorporate more positive feelings into your daily life. This does assume basic access to safety as well as social equality.

Why is Happiness So Important?

You might be wondering why happiness is considered such an important aspect of life, as there are many components of a meaningful life.

In some ways, science would agree with you. It appears that life satisfaction, meaning, and well-being can be linked with happiness, but happiness is not necessarily the overarching goal for everyone in life. It is still important because it has some undeniably positive benefits and co-occurring factors.

Happy people are more successful in multiple life domains, including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health.

Happy people get sick less often and experience fewer symptoms when they do get sick.

Happy people have more friends and a better support system.

Happy people donate more to charity (and giving money to charity makes you happy, too).

Happy people are more helpful and more likely to volunteer—which also makes you happier!

Happy people have an easier time navigating through life since optimism eases pain, sadness, and grief.

Happy people have a positive influence on others and encourage them to seek happiness as well, which can act as reinforcement.

Happy people engage in deeper and more meaningful conversations.

Happy people smile more, which is beneficial to your health.

Happy people exercise more often and eat more healthily.

Happy people are happy with what they have rather than being jealous of others.

Happy people are healthier all around and more likely to be healthy in the future.

Happy people live longer than those who are not as happy.

Happy people are more productive and more creative, and this effect extends to all those experiencing positive emotions.

The relationship between mental health and happiness

As you can probably assume from the list above, there is a strong relationship between mental health and happiness! When happy people are healthier, have better relationships, make friends more easily, and find more success in life, it’s easy to see why happiness and mental health are related.

The sources that contribute to happiness are the same as those that provide people with a buffer or protection against mental illness, which explains the close relationship between the two.