Happiness

What is happiness?

Happiness can be defined as a combination between the satisfaction that a person has with his personal life (family, partner, work) and the mental well-being that he feels on a day-to-day basis..

Being happy means being in a state of mind of well-being made up of positive emotions, from joy to pleasure. The concept of happiness is diffuse and its meaning can vary for different people and cultures. Related terms are well-being, quality of life, satisfaction and fulfillment.

Have you ever tried to define happiness or have you looked up its definition in the dictionary? If the answer is yes, you may have noticed how difficult it is to find a definition of this concept that does not incorporate a synonym for the same word. As if that were not enough, it is also almost impossible for us to measure exactly the degree of happiness that a person feels.

What does it mean and what does happiness consist of??

At present and due to the great amount of unhappiness that exists with the development of the modern world, the science that studies happiness has gained great importance because who would not like to be happy?.

Since the dawn of time, philosophers, religious leaders, writers, and famous thinkers like Aristotle have asked themselves this question, which they have tried to answer. For Aristotle, happiness had two aspects: Hedonia (pleasure) and eudaimonia (a life lived).

In contemporary psychology, this concept is even more elaborate if we focus on Dr. Seligman's way of understanding it. For him, happiness is the pleasant, meaningful and committed life, in addition to having quality relationships that a person has, as well as for their successes and achievements..

On the other hand, we also know the mathematical formula or the factors that determine our happiness, "subjective well-being":

• Our genes determine our happiness 50% out of 100.
• On the other hand, 10% is determined by the circumstances that surround us..
• And the remaining 40% is triggered by the activities we do on a daily basis (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon & Schkade, 2005).

So we can come to the conclusion that our happiness is governed by these three elements and that although there is 60% of our happiness that we cannot control, we still have 40% of which we are responsible for in the activities they form. part of our daily life.

Happiness according to the ancients and modern sages

An interesting way to better understand the concept of happiness is to observe what ancient and somewhat more modern philosophers and sages said about it.

As you can see, there are numerous definitions and opinions of what this concept is. Some think that it depends on oneself, others that it does not take much to be happy, others that it depends on desire, others that with wisdom one is happy.

Some of the more interesting definitions are:

• Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.-Sophocles.
• Only the one who knows how to be happy with everything can be happy always.-Confucius.
• Happiness consists in being free, that is, not wanting anything.-Epictetus.
• The word happiness would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.-Carl Jung.
• The duck is happy in its dirty puddle because it does not know the sea.-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
• Happiness depends on ourselves.-Aristotle.
• True happiness is enjoying the present, without anxious dependence on the future.-Marco Aurelio.
• Most people are as happy as they decide to be themselves.-Abraham Lincoln.
• Money has never made a man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in his nature that produces happiness. The more you have the more you want.-Benjamin Franklin.

What is happiness according to Psychology?

A good start to define happiness may be to start with what we know it is not. For many people, happiness lies in having fun with friends at a party or even enjoying a good meal..

These are wonderful experiences that make us feel great, but it doesn't really give us a definition of the concept itself, since they define what pleasure is. Therefore, if happiness is not the same as pleasure, then what is happiness?.

As we have seen in the ideas of the psychologist Seligman, happiness is when our life fully meets our needs. In other words, it comes when we feel satisfied and fulfilled. It is a feeling of satisfaction, in which it seems to us that life is as it should be. Perfect happiness, enlightenment, comes when all our needs are fully covered.

Happiness and brain

Of course, neural connections, neurotransmitters and the functioning of the human brain are of fundamental importance when it comes to understanding happiness..

In this sense, serotonin is of fundamental importance, a neurotransmitter synthesized in the central nervous system with functions of vital importance for well-being and emotional stability..

Increasing this substance almost automatically produces a feeling of well-being, increased self-esteem, relaxation and concentration..

Serotonin deficits are associated with depression, suicidal thoughts, obsessive compulsive disorder, insomnia and aggressive states.

What are our essential needs to be happy?

Once we know what happiness is and the factors that compose it, we have to answer another question: What are the essential needs that I have to cover to be happy??.

Our individual needs vary based on our genetics, the way we were raised, and our life experiences. This complex combination is what makes each of us unique, both in our exact needs, and in all other aspects that make up the person we are today..

Each of us can become very complex, but we are all human and this provides the foundation on which we can discover our essential human needs..

Based on what Dr. Seligman understands by happiness and the basic needs that are proposed in Maslow's pyramid, we have made a list of the main essential needs that human beings can have, and that if they are fully met will lead to be happy:

• Have well-being. Understood as the connections that are made between the body and the mind and that affects our state of mind and vice versa. We will not be able to feel good if we do not satisfy our first and essential basic need, the physiological.
• Living in a suitable environment. It refers to external factors such as security, food availability, freedom, weather, beauty, and your home. Human beings need to feel protected in order to be happy.
• Pleasure. All human beings have to live temporary experiences such as joy, sex, love and food to feel good.
• Have relationships. On the other hand, since we are a social species, the social relationships that we have will be the basis of the construction of our personality, and as Seligman says they must be positive.
• Eagerness to excel. We need to have goals and the motivation to fight for them and meet them. That is, we have to live adventures, make plans and be curious about the world around us..
• Commitment. Our interior needs to be involved in the activity that it is doing, paying attention to its internal attitudes and not based only on external circumstances. So to be happy you have to be committed to what you do actively.
• Success and achievement. Everyone needs to set goals with which to pursue their dreams and also feel competent and autonomous. Thanks to the goals we can continue to grow as individuals or professionally. For this, self-confidence will be very important.
• Esteem. As we already know, we also need to be loved and felt loved in order to have a positive assessment of ourselves and our professional work. If we do not manage to have it, it can affect our self-esteem and therefore our happiness.
• Flexibility. We also have to have the ability to adapt to the changes that life brings our way and know how to overcome them in a positive way..

Scientific curiosities about happiness

-Temperature matters: Research has shown a clear relationship between warmer climates and better mood. Both too hot and too cold are detrimental to well-being.

-In part it is inherited: several investigations have shown that genes are responsible for at least 50% of how happy a person is.

-What you smell is important: "Flower smells can make you happier by encouraging social interactions" according to Dr. Jeannette Haviland-Jones, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University.

-Being good at something helps to be happyWhether it's playing an instrument or chess, being good at a skill helps you be happy. Although it is hard at first and can be stressful, in the long run it pays off.

Types of happiness

According to psychologist Martin Selingman, there are 5 different types of happiness:

• Positive emotions or pleasant life.
• Commitment or committed life.
• Relations.
• Meaning or meaningful life.
• Success and sense of accomplishment.

See full article.

References

1. Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K, M. and Schkade, D. (2005): Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change. Review of General Psychology, 9, no. 2, 111 131.
2. Seligman, Martin E. P. (2011): Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. New York: Free Press.
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