What do you go to work for? What do you plan your
tomorrow for? What is the end goal we all are trying to achieve?
Well, most common answer to those questions is:
TO BE HAPPY, OBVIOUSLY! And that is what this blog is going to be about: HAPPINESS.
Prologue
We will be discussing various philosophical and
scientific definitions and theories of happiness. We will then be moving to
techniques that can help achieve a state of happiness in real life.
Theories related to
Happiness
Aristotle was one of the first people to theorize the concept of
happiness. According to his theory, happiness is composed of two major aspects:
True
happiness is usually a result of a balance between these two aspects. Inclining
heavily towards the pursuit of pleasure can be detrimental in the long-term
since it may have negative effects on one’s physical, mental, and social
health. At the same time, overly leaning towards eudemonia might not be a good
idea as well since it may result in exhaustion and fatigue because the benefits
or rewards of the most of these activities will be in the far future, hence one
may find it hard to stay motivated throughout.
This balance has
also been emphasized by Sigmund Freud (1930) in the quote below.
‘people strive after happiness; they want to become happy
and to remain so. This endeavour has two sides, a positive and a negative aim.
It aims, on the one hand, at an absence of pain and displeasure, and, on the
other, at the experiencing of strong feelings of pleasure’ (p. 76).
Subjective well-being
Another realm of interest is the subjectivity of happiness. People are
happy if they themselves think and believe that they are in fact, happy. For
example, an amount of 100$ might bring immense joy to a poor person but won’t
have the same effect on a rich person because these two individuals have widely
different realities.
Hence, Ed Diener introduced a term to describe
this measure of happiness: Subjective wellbeing. It consists of three
components:
1. life satisfaction,
2. the presence of a positive mood and
3. the absence of a negative mood (Ryan
& Deci, 2001).
This model
also includes within it the balance of hedonia and eudemonia, or the balance of
immediate gratification and working towards a long-term goal.
Theories developed by positive psychologists
Seligman (2002) introduced
the Authentic Happiness theory. This theory suggests that a person
can achieve authentic happiness by living based on their 'signature strengths',
which can be developed by self-awareness of one's own strengths and working on
them. This awareness comes by experimenting with fields of interest and honing
the skills in the fields that resonate with you.
Another noteworthy theory of happiness is Csikszentmihalyi’s ‘flow’ theory. Flow may be defined as “the state of engagement, optimal happiness, and peak experience that occurs when an individual is absorbed in a demanding and intrinsically motivating challenge” (Norrish & Vella-Brodrick, 2008, p. 395). This state of engagement has been proposed to be a pathway to happiness (Norrish & Vella-Brodrick, 2008). This way to achieve happiness has also been emphasized in the famed self-help book- Ikigai: The Japanese secret for a Long and Happy Life. This book also discusses strategies to achieve the state of flow, hence you may give it a read if you want to know more about it.
The diagram below aptly summarizes the flow theory.
The above two theories
of happiness have also been emphasized in texts of yoga and meditation, wherein
it discusses the mental and physical benefits of self-exploration through
meditation and achieving a state of 'flow' while doing your daily tasks.
Psychology of happiness
Happiness is “people’s evaluations of their lives and encompasses
both cognitive judgments of satisfaction and affective appraisals of moods and
emotions” (Kesebir & Diener, 2008, p. 118).
Another popular definition of happiness given
by psychologist Steven Pinker goes like- “We are happier when we are healthy,
well-fed, comfortable, safe, prosperous, knowledgeable, respected, non-celibate
and loved”. But it is obvious that the concept of happiness is not that simple
and entails various other factors.
Happiness set-point
Most of the positive psychologists believe that
various life events don’t affect a person’s happiness a lot, rather there is a
set point to it which can be determined genetically.
What this means is though we may feel a sudden
surge of positive or negative emotions depending on the life event, we
eventually come back to that set point of happiness. So, let’s say you buy a new
car. For the initial few months, you might feel extremely happy and excited
about it but eventually that surge of happiness dies away, and you return to
your base state of happiness. Similar trend would go for a negative event like
losing your pet.
What this means is we adapt to the good and bad
things in life. Psychologist Dan Gilbert conceptualizes it using the term: “Psychological
Immune System”, according to which, we tend to see positive aspects of
negative events and vice versa, hence helping us to eventually adapt to those
events.
Ways of studying happiness
1. Need and
Goal Satisfaction Theories
These theories suggest that happiness results from
striving to achieve appropriate goals and meeting one’s fundamental human needs
2. Genetic and Personality
Predisposition Theories
These propose that wellbeing is influenced by genes and
is associated with the personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism
(Nelson et al., in press). This, in turn, implies that wellbeing does not
change much over time.
3. Process/activity theories
Process/activity theories argue
that wellbeing may be improved by participating in activities that are engaging
and require effort (Nelson et al., in press).
Psychologists use many of these theories to cure
clinical depression and anxiety (used mainly in Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy).
Happiness Hormones
Another way of increasing the level of happiness
is through increasing these “happiness hormones” in your blood stream. Many
things make us happy through this path, be it chocolates and cakes or drugs and
weed. Many severe cases of anxiety and mood disorders are solved using
medications which work on this concept.
To know about
how to increase these hormones in your body by simple dietary and lifestyle
changes, you may refer to this blog: Hormonal
way to achieve happiness
Real-life
pursuits of happiness
Having
discussed various theories around happiness, we may proceed to exploring
different ways in which happiness may be achieved.
Spirituality:
One of the
most common ways to achieve a long-lasting sensation of happiness and
satisfaction is through spirituality. This includes various methods like
meditation, yoga, donating to poor people etc. Spirituality helps define a
complete lifestyle which helps develop the feeling that life is
well-lived.
Since most of spirituality involves putting in effort (hence experiencing pain)
in the present, it can be very difficult to start with. But countless research
have proven the long-lasting benefits of spirituality.
Fitness:
Another
important aspect of eternal happiness is a healthy body. It not only helps live
longer, but also helps build immunity against illnesses, thereby helping you
live a fulfilling life. Since the goal is to lead an overall healthy lifestyle,
you don't need to train like an athlete or lift weights like a bodybuilder.
Simply choosing healthier meals and doing a light to moderate workout everyday
can vastly improve your health, and in-turn, lead you to a sense of achievement
and eternal happiness.
An important
thing to note here is that the regularity of this lifestyle should be
maintained. In other words, don't always deny your cravings and overdo dieting
and exercise. The goal should be longevity, and hence, sometimes, you can allow
yourself to have that delicious cupcake :)
Career:
Even though
this is the area where we spend most of our adult lives in, we constantly
despise it, as if it is the only thing that is stopping us from being happy.
Choosing and building a career is a very crucial job ("pun intended"),
which if done right, can be a source of major achievement and satisfaction.
Countless
studies have already proven that materialistic things like money, car, house
etc., though important, but never lead to long-lasting happiness. So, we need
to get that out of our system and set our goals elsewhere. Since most of the
people are clueless about their passion, what they can do is try earning a
basic living through a job, freelance work etc., and spend rest of their time
doing things they love, exploring new fields and ultimately finding their
passion.
Also, finding your passion doesn't mean leaving your job and diving straight
into that field. You need to hone your skills and find ways of monetizing it.
If it is something that doesn't seem monetizable, or if it is extremely difficult
to make a career out of it, you may keep pursuing it as a hobby, or as a
side-income at best. Ultimately, you will be happy that you found your passion
and you are getting to do the thing that you truly love.
Relationships:
We are social
beings and hence relationships do constitute as a major factor of our
happiness. Here we consider all sorts of relationships, be it romantic,
parental, kinship or friendship. Having healthy relationships with close ones
not only leads to an ever-lasting feeling of happiness, but also helps sail
through the ups and downs of life. Various psychological studies have shown
that people having healthy relationships in their life are way less likely to
fall into depression, anxiety and a feeling of emptiness in life.
Building and
sustaining relationships can also be viewed as a long-term goal which can
provide life a meaningful purpose. A psychological study conducted a few years
ago interviewed parents first when their child was an infant, and again when
their children had become adults. The study found that the first time when they
interviewed, parents were constantly stressed and tired since the baby required
constant care, but then when they were interviewed later, most of the parents
felt that raising the child was one of the most important achievement of their
lives. Similar studies have also been done on newly-wed couples (3-4 years
after their marriage) and after 20-25 years and similar results have been
obtained.
Hence, these studies prove the importance of relationships in one's life and the eternal happiness it can provide.
Conclusion:
In this blog,
we discussed the various philosophical and psychological theories around the
concept of happiness. We then moved on to exploring ways in which happiness can
be found in different aspects of our everyday lives. While this is a proven
template for happiness that works, it doesn't mean that there couldn't be
better templates or better ways to understand and achieve happiness. Through
countless studies, theories and social experiments, we have found models of
happiness that don't work or aren't that great, but that doesn't negate the
possibility of a better model for happiness.
Written and edited
by: Yash Jayesh Doshi
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