From Mrs. Cog's Corner
What is happiness?
The NY Times says, 'after 40 years of research, they attribute happiness to three major sources: genes, events and values.' The Huffington Post has devoted an entire section to better understand it. And just in case it's still not clicking for you, here is a TED talk on how to buy happiness. If you think you might need further input on tracking what really makes you happy: there's an app for that.
Indeed, there seem to be recipes for happiness everywhere. Some, like the song in this video (thank you to my child unit), I cannot get out of my head. (Well worth the four minutes to watch once.)
But is there more to the "happiness" thing than the obvious?
Fascinating studies not only show that being happy boosts our immune systems, scientists think they know how. It has also been shown that happy people live longer lives. After coming to these wonderful conclusions and more regarding the benefits of happiness, Harvard researchers even ponder whether happiness might be made into policy (lol).
After reading more than a hundred different articles, studies and websites on the topic of happiness, I came to several conclusions myself. First, happiness seems to be defined by the individual and like our health, no two people are the same. Second, happiness sells. It is the ultimate carrot to dangle whether you define yourself on the outside by what others perceive of you, or on the inside by looking within, there are an abundance of products, people and services to help you reach your goal. Third, and possibly most important, in these trying times when change is roaring through the world as we know it, more people are consciously grasping for genuine ways to achieve some degree of happiness while artificial stimulus crumbles and leaves many exposed to an emptiness.
In the end, I suppose the one constant point boils down to a recently penned Cogism. No one can "make me" happy. I can only find it on my own.
Some famous insights to happiness:
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” Dr. Seuss
“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” Dalai Lama XIV
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” J.R.R. Tolkien
“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Buddha
“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” Winnie the Pooh
Read More:
While I may take joy in the quiet moments, you may get more energy and happiness from socializing. Despite these little differences, there are certain areas of our lives that we can adjust and make immediate changes to in order to feel more joy on a daily basis. http://naturalsociety.com/5-things-boost-happiness-now-part-1/ and naturalsociety.com/5-things-boost-happiness-now-part-ii/
We crave happiness. It is certainly more desirable than unhappiness. By understanding how happiness, and the lack of it, affects the overall well-being and level of consciousness of oneself, each person is able to take steps towards streaming more happiness into one’s life. By using tools such as meditation and positive psychology exercises such as expressing individuality, we are able to experience more happiness more often. http://wakeup-world.com/2014/03/28/elevated-happiness-the-why-and-the-how/
For at least the last decade, the happiness craze has been building. In the last three months alone, over 1,000 books on happiness were released on Amazon, including Happy Money, Happy-People-Pills For All, and, for those just starting out, Happiness for Beginners. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/meaning-is-healthier-than-happiness/278250/
In 1964, magazine editor Norman Cousins was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an arthritis-type auto-immune disease that affects the spine. Doctors gave him a one-in-500 chance of recovery. He scoffed at their prognosis and began a new type of therapy—happiness therapy—self-medicating with regular doses of mood-boosting movies and activities which he ultimately credited with his “dramatic recovery”. Considered one of the forefathers of what’s known as psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), Cousins was one of the first to demonstrate the impact of moods on health. http://naturalsociety.com/happiness-impacts-health/
The results demonstrated that affective profiles systematically relate to psychological well-being and harmony in life. Notably, individuals categorised as self-fulfilling tended to report higher levels of both psychological well-being and harmony in life when compared with the other profiles. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24688843
Complex associations among physical activities, health status, and social functioning appear to determine happiness levels in older adults. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24679157
The Journal of Happiness Studies is a peer reviewed scientific journal devoted to subjective well-being. It covers both cognitive evaluations of life (like life-satisfaction) and affective enjoyment of life (such as mood level). Next to contributions on appraisal of life-as-a-whole the journal accepts contributions on life domains (such as job-satisfaction) and life-aspects (such as perceived meaning of life). http://www.researchgate.net/journal/1389-4978_Journal_of_Happiness_Studies and http://link.springer.com/journal/10902
Research on how to increase positive moods and capitalize on your strengths has proliferated in recent years,that thanks to the positive psychology movement, and has shed light on ongoing insights into personality, mood, and cognition. Not everyone is born with a sunny disposition, but experts agree we can all learn how to bring more meaning and satisfaction into our lives. http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/happiness
It’s a chicken and egg problem, though. Does happiness bring those kinds of things, or do those kinds of things lead us to be happier? While we may not exactly know the answer to that question yet, we do know the answers to many other questions about happiness. http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/04/10/5-reliable-findings-from-happiness-research/