Mukhtar Ahmad Qureshi
Incorporating habits into your daily life such as keeping a gratitude journal, practicing kindness, nurturing optimism, learning to forgive, investing in relationships, finding flow activities, avoiding overthinking, savouring life’s joys, and committing to goals can make happiness a permanent fixture.
Happiness is something that we all strive for, but it can be an elusive concept. What does it mean to be truly happy? How can we achieve it? In this blog, we will explore the psychology of happiness and uncover some of the factors that contribute to a fulfilling and happy life.
To most people, one of the most important pursuits in life is happiness. We never stop trying to enjoy and appreciate life in its experiences, relationships, and achievements. However, what is it that we can actually define as the source of happiness? Success, money, or status? The field of psychology gives a different answer for the happiness pursuit: it is much more complicated than just the outside markers of achievement. It is influenced by a combination of factors involving internal and external elements, personal values, and even biological machinery.
The science of happiness
Happiness is the experience of positive emotions such as joy, gratitude, and satisfaction. However, when viewed psychologically, happiness is more than a passing state of mind; it refers to the condition of well-being in which people appraise their lives. Psychologists broke happiness into two distinct categories.
1. Hedonic happiness: Hedonic happiness is derived from pleasure, enjoyment, and absence of pain. It is usually short-term and associated with sensory experience such as enjoying good food, engaging in amusement and entertainment, or indulging in leisure.
2. Eudemonic happiness: This is a more intense and substantial type of happiness derived from life, where a person experiences values and meaning through living life that is focused in purpose. It’s personal development, self-realization, and the attempt to contribute to something beyond one’s interests.
Indeed, research studies show that though hedonic happiness will be really important for short-term pleasures, long-term happiness is better associated with eudemonic well-being. A balance between the two forms of happiness will also lead to sustainable emotional well-being.
Factors that affect happiness
There are various factors that bear on happiness – both internal and external. There are those who say money or a position of status in society is important for one’s quest for happiness, while research says that these only provide a temporary effect. Psychologists emphasize the fact that long-term happiness is more rooted in internal psychological factors.
1. Interpersonal relationships: Strong, positive relationships are one of the most consistent findings in happiness research. Being an inherently social species, having a close tie with family, friends, or even members of the community can elevate wellbeing a great deal. Surprisingly, in the literature, subjects that reported more satisfying relationships were happier and less stressed.
2. Thankfulness: The science has shown that practicing thankfulness makes people happier and satisfied with life. People must change from thinking in terms of scarcity to what is actually abundant. It is the easiest exercise to rewire your brain so that one becomes more attentive to experiencing positive things and less bothered by negative thinking.
3. The Purpose and the Meaning in Life: Under eudemonic well-being, purpose and meaning in life lie at the root of happiness as they feel happy with the existence in life as long as they are concerned with values or morals for people. At work, volunteering, or when they set out for personal goals, those activities which give them a sense of purpose lead to higher fulfillment.
4. Goodness Deeds: Helping people and performing good deeds also increases happiness. Giving someone the benefit of doing something good about their welfare triggers pleasure and reward centers in the brain. Kindness also helps in social connection, and belonging, which are two critical components in happiness.
5. Mindfulness and Presence: Life, as many think of it, is just being in the moment-the commonly used term being mindfulness. The positive consequences of focusing on the present rather than concerning oneself with the past or future have been significantly more likely to experience happiness. Stress reduction is often achieved through mindfulness techniques like meditation or deep breathing to increase overall happiness.
6. Personal Growth: In so far as personal growth goes, the quest for self-improvement has been a pretty significant happiness contributor itself. For example, acquiring new skills, goal-setting and striving, or anything else that provides passion gives a feeling of fulfillment and long-term well-being. People who have a high investment in personal growth tend to carry a sense of competence and mastery of one’s lives.
Common myths about happiness
Most people have false ideas about what could make them fulfilled. One of the common misconceptions among individuals is that wealth equals happiness. Although financial security may be very important for an individual’s well-being, studies have revealed that after the satisfaction of primary needs, the law of diminishing returns applies to the amount of happiness pursued further through wealth. Common sense defies conventional wisdom; those who place a high value on material success have been found to be less happy and less satisfied with life.
Another myth is that success—professional, academic, or in any personal life area—guarantees permanent happiness. By itself, success can bring only temporary pleasure; it cannot ensure the satisfaction of long-term happiness. The reason for this is that people tend to get accustomed to new situations very fast. This is commonly called the “hedonic treadmill,” by which a new aspiration springs up the moment one goal is met. Thus, one is forever running after more causes for being satisfied.
How to cultivate happiness
Happiness will need constant cultivation through conscious daily choices. The most successful approach that could be used is dwelling on good habits that bring about better well-being. It also includes practices of gratitude, relationships, meaningful work, and time for self-reflection as a means of building long-term happiness.
But in consonance with the strivings for pleasure would go the search for meaning towards more fulfilling satisfaction for life. Hedonic and eudemonic happiness may be conceptualized to be achieved in pleasurable activities, as in meaningful activities; the former has the possibility of immediate gratification, whereas the latter sustain long-term fulfillment.
Happiness comes in layers and depends on many aspects, such as one’s interpersonal relations, personal growth, gratitude, or a sense of belonging, among others. Although external achievements and well-being may keep people satisfied for a while, true happiness remains inside one’s internal processes and good choices in life. Knowing psychology about happiness is the first step to keeping an active role in making a more meaningful and joyful life.
(The author hails from Boniyar Baramulla and can be reached at [email protected])
