Being happy is not just about feeling good. The research shows us that happiness also make us healthy, nicer, and more productive. We are emotional beings and we experience a wide range of feelings on a daily basis. Happiness relates to how we feel all day long. Happiness boosts our mood and gives us more positive emotions. Being happy promote a healthy lifestyle, boosts your immune system, and gives you vitality to thrive through life, that is why happiness is important in our life.
What is Happiness?
It seems like an odd question, but is it? Do you know the real definition of happiness? Do you think happiness is the same thing to you as it is for others?
Happiness is an emotional state having feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment. Out of the many different definitions for Happiness, it is often described as involving positive emotions and life satisfaction.
The feeling of happiness is a wonderful experience, emotionally and mentally, and it makes sense that we’d want to create more of that in our lives.
Research is showing that bringing more happiness into your life has far more benefits than merely feeling good.
It was Aristotle who once said “Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and the end of human existence” – a sentiment that is still true today.
Happiness can have a huge impact on the way we live our lives.
** Happiness feels like:
** Being satisfied with life,
** Being in a good mood,
** Feeling positive emotions throughout the day, and
** Feeling blissful all around.
People may experience happiness as a global assessment of life or as a recollection of past emotional experiences.
Happiness could also feel like an aggregation of multiple emotional reactions across time (Kim-Prieto, Diener, Tamir, Scollon, & Diener, 2005).
Happiness releases dopamine and serotonin, two types of neurotransmitters in the brain. Both of these chemicals are heavily associated with making us feel pleasure, elevates our mood and is also responsible to make us feel love and connection.
Key components of happiness are:
1. Life satisfaction: This relates to how satisfied you feel in the different areas of your life such as:
** Your relationships,
** Work-life balance,
** Overall achievements in life,
** Maintaining a healthy physique and
** Other important things and areas of life.
2. The balance of emotions: Everyone experiences both positive and negative emotions, feelings, and moods. Happiness is generally linked to experiencing more positive feelings than negative ones. Our brains function significantly better in positive moods than in negative, neutral, or stressed ones.
The Psychology behind Human Happiness
Happiness, in psychology, is a state of emotional well-being that a person experience and is associated with feelings as described below:
Joy: An often relatively brief feeling that is felt in the present moment.
Gratitude: A positive emotion that involves being thankful and appreciative.
Pride: A feeling of satisfaction in something that you may have accomplished.
Excitement: A happy feeling that involves looking forward to something with positive anticipation.
Optimism: This is a way of looking at life with a positive mindset.
Contentment: The type of happiness involving a deep sense of satisfaction.
Attaining happiness is a global pursuit. All the people around the globe strive with the purpose of experiencing the feeling of Happiness and Satisfaction for most of their lives. Researchers find that people from every corner of the world rate happiness more important than other desirable personal outcomes such as:-
** Obtaining wealth,
** Acquiring material goods, and/or
** Getting into heaven.
This article contains:
Definition of Happiness
The Psychology Behind Human Happiness
11 reasons why Happiness is important in our life?
Description, What a Happy Life Should Look Like
Why is Happiness So Important?
4 infographic Happiness quotes
A Take-Home Message
References
“Happiness tends to focus on an individual’s overall personal feelings about their life in the present”
When people talk about their happiness, they refer to a more general sense of how they feel about life in the present moment. Happiness is a changeable state and it isn’t a long-lasting personality trait.
10 reasons why Happiness is important in our life?
1. Happy people tend to be more successful.
“Success is not the key to Happiness, Happiness is the key to success”
Happy people are more successful in multiple life domains, such as:-
** Maintaining a perfect Marriage relationship,
** Building a good Family bonding,
** Keeping nice friendship ties,
** Having excellent income sources,
** Achieving peak work performance, and
** Overall better health.
As we become happier, we become more successful. Our brains function significantly better in positive moods than in negative, neutral, or stressed ones.
“Science has proven that success does not lead to happiness, rather happiness leads to success”
Happiness has a profound effect on brain function and significantly increases individual performance, which helps increase the success rate. Workplaces that follow a “Happy employee protocol” take a holistic approach to staff wellbeing, thereby boosting happiness and they enjoy a competitive advantage that improves staff engagement. And so as we become happier, we become more successful.
Achors research has proven that increased happiness leads to a 23% reduction in stress, 39% improvement in health, and 31% improvement in productivity.
Happiness leads to:
** Increased cognitive function,
** Increased memory and retention,
** Improved problem-solving ability,
** Higher accuracy and more creativity.
All these things give the workforce a huge advantage, allowing them to perform at their peak.
When a company is undergoing some big change, it is more likely that the employees will undergo a lot of stress. But if steps are taken to make them happy, they’ll make customers happy and the profits will rise.
2. Happy people maintain better relationships.
“A great relationship is about accepting the similarities and respecting the differences”.
The acquired qualities in happy people such as empathy, positivity and a strong emotional connection drive the happiest and healthiest relationships.
Ultimately, the quality of a person’s relationship dictates the quality of their life. “Good relationships aren’t just happier and nicer,” says Johnson.
“You deserve relationships where you are heard, seen and accepted exactly for who you are”
Happier relationships leads to a happier life.
The secret to loving relationships and to keeping them strong and vibrant over the years also to falling in love again and again, is emotional responsiveness,” says Sue Johnson, a clinical psychologist in Ottawa
“What makes couples unhappy is when they have an emotional disconnection and they can’t get a feeling of security.”
Emotional disengagement can easily happen in any relationship when couples are not doing things that create positivity. “When that happens, people feel like they’re just moving further and further apart until they don’t even know each other anymore!.
3. Happy people have less stress.
“Don’t stress over what you can’t control, just let it be and focus on being happy”
Increased happiness makes a person more mindful of his acts which is accompanied by:
** More resilience,
** Closer relationships,
** Improved physical health,
** As well as lower levels of depression and
** Higher levels of life satisfaction
Stress is not only upsetting on a psychological level, but also triggers biological changes in our hormones and blood pressure. Happiness help us recover from these effects more quickly.
It is found that positive mood and positive thinking increase one’s ability to manage stress in healthy ways, which leads to improved health outcomes such as increased immunity and longevity, as well as improved lifestyle factors such as greater job satisfaction.
So the frequent bursts of happiness can lead to greater resilience toward managing stress. Many small acts can suddenly lift up our moods like:-
>> Playing with a pet,
>> Watching a funny video,
>> Dancing on your favorite track for two minutes or
>> Even eating chocolate.
These are some quick fixes for elevating the mood during stress management.
4. Happy people are more creative.
Happy people are more productive and more creative, and this effect extends to all those experiencing positive emotions.
People are more creative when they are happy because happiness is a state of mind where everything seems to be clear and less clouded and hence there is a lot of space in your mind for incoming creative ideas.
To add to that you are more confident when you are happy and this confidence gives your creativity a boost and a self-belief in your own creative idea.
“Happiness helps us focus on the moment and distracts us from worry and so does creativity”
5. Happy people are Healthier.
“There can be no happiness without good health”
Being happy promotes a range of healthy lifestyle habits that are important for overall health. Happy people tend to eat healthier diets, with higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
A healthy lifestyle includes diets rich in fruits and vegetables that have consistently been associated with a range of health benefits, including lower risks of diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.
Regular physical activity helps build strong bones, increase energy levels, decrease body fat, and lower blood pressure
Being happier releases serotonin, which helps regulate sleep, appetite, and mood. So it also improves sleep habits and practices, which is important for:
- Concentration,
- Productivity,
- Physical exercise performance and
- Maintaining a healthy weight.
This may also help reduce your risk of developing colds and chest infections.
In one study, over 500 healthy people looked at the risk of developing a cold after individuals were given a common cold virus via nasal drops. The least happy people were almost three times as likely to develop the common cold compared to their happier counterparts.
Happy people are more likely to take part in health-promoting behaviors that play a role in keeping the immune system strong. These include healthy eating habits and regular physical activity
Scientific evidence suggests that being happy may have major benefits for your health. For starters, being happy promotes a healthy lifestyle.
It may also help:-
** Combat stress,
** Boost your immune system,
** Protect your heart and reduce pain.
What’s more, it may even increase your life expectancy. Happy people exercise more often and eat more healthily.
“Happy people are healthier all around and more likely to be healthy in the future”
“Happiness is the highest form of health”.. Dalai Lama
6. Happiness can help reduce pain.
“Everyone wants happiness, no one wants pain, but you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain”
Researchers believe that people who are happy, have a better perspective and are able to accept new thoughts easily, which can lead to a lower experience of pain, especially connected to chronic conditions such as arthritis, stroke, spinal cord injury, and multiple sclerosis.
The positive emotions help broaden their perspective, encouraging new thoughts and ideas which help them reduce the pain.
Researchers have found that happy people are more likely to report lower levels of pain.
Studies have shown different ways in where Happy people find a purpose to live and forget their pain in pursuing their goals.
Helping those in need: Taking the focus away from ourselves (and our pain) by connecting with people in need in the community.
eg. by:-
>> A visit to a friend in need,
>> Volunteering at a food bank,
>> Providing a homeless shelter or
>> Simply making someone smile.
>> Working towards a personal goal: Going after something personally important and rewarding makes you focus mostly on the goal and forget the pain.
>> Happy people find meaning in nurturing relationships: Strengthening and enjoying relationships by making time for people, expressing their admiration, appreciation, and affection towards them, and being supportive, loyal and loving unconditionally.
7. Happiness combats disease and disability.
“Everything heals. Your heart heals. The mind heals. Wounds heal. Your happiness is always going to come back”
Happy people are known to follow a very healthy lifestyle, get sick less often and experience fewer symptoms when they do. Happiness strengthens your immune system. Being happier releases serotonin, which helps regulate sleep, appetite, and mood, so the healing of the body is better. The physical health benefits of happiness include:
** A stronger immune system,
** Stronger resilience at times of stress,
** A stronger heart and less risk of cardiovascular disease,
** Overall quicker recovery after illness or surgery.
In a 2007 study of nearly 8000 participants who reported being happy and satisfied with life most of the time were about 1.5 times less likely to have long-term health conditions (like chronic pain and or fatal diseases etc) two years later.
Excess stress causes higher levels of cortisol – the stress hormone. Cortisol can lead to a number of health conditions. Multiple studies have found that individuals who are happier have consistently lower cortisol levels in their blood.
Another study found that women with breast cancer recalled being less happy and optimistic before their diagnosis than women without breast cancer, suggesting that happiness and optimism may be protective against the disease.
8. Happy people enjoy a more satisfying life.
Happy people have a very strong, optimistic approach to life and so they enjoy an “Attitude of Gratitude”. They have the ability to differentiate need from greed and are happy with what they have rather than comparing to others which may lead to self-sabotage.
A happy person finds peace and satisfaction even in the smallest of pleasures in life such as:
- Breathing fresh morning air,
- Enjoying the Rising sun
- Drinking that first sip of coffee in the morning,
- Taking a refreshing cold shower,
- Petting a dog,
- Sitting under a tree,
- The smell of soil during first rains,
- The smell of an aromatic candle,
- Eating the fresh dessert from a nearby bakery,
- Sitting in a garden and reading a book,
- Rejoicing that feeling after a tough workout,
- A hot shower after a long, tiring day,
- Dining by candlelight,
- Enjoying home-cooked meals with family,
- Climbing into a cozy bed with fresh sheets,
- Rejoicing the mesmerizing sunsets, and most of all
- Making someone smile.
9. Happy people have an easier time navigating through life.
“Make your happiness and personal growth a priority in your life. The more you take care of yourself, the more you can take care of others”
Since a positive approach to life eases pain, sadness, and grief.
This is because happy people:-
** Live with purpose,
** They find joy in lasting relationships,
** They are always working towards their goals, and
** They have a strong value system for life.
** A happy person does not obsess with material goods or luxury vacations as they have the ability to differentiate “need from greed.”
10. Happy people have a positive influence on others.
“Happy people find a way to live with their problems and they never let their problems stop them from living”
They encourage them to seek happiness as well, which can act as reinforcement. Happy people attract and enjoy a good companionship as they engage in deeper and more meaningful conversations. They act as healers in this world full of catastrophic experiences.
“Happy people in fact help maintain the balance of good v/s bad in life”
Research suggests that happy people tend to rank pretty high on life satisfaction index.
Signs of a Happy Person:
>> Is always open to learning new things,
>> Is high in humility and patience,
>> Smiles and laughs readily,
>> Goes with the flow,
>> A happy person practices compassion,
>> Keeps an attitude of gratitude,
>> Follow self-care diligently,
>> Is serious about healthy relationships,
>> Always lives with meaning and purpose in mind,
>> Does not feel entitled and has fewer expectations,
>> A happy person feels happy for other people,
>> Never insults anyone,
>> Does not hold grudges,
>> Does not play games with mates, and
>> Always preach happiness to others.
Final Thoughts on Why Happiness Is Important.
“Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and the end of human existence” Aristotle
Happiness should be the primary focus in life, but happiness is widely misunderstood. It is not the same as “sensory pleasure”.
“Make your happiness and personal growth a priority in your life” – Mani 22ji
Buddhism views happiness as the absence of negative thoughts and emotions, such as cravings, anger, hate, resentment, jealousy, fear, worry, anxiety, and other “afflictions”.
From following a prescribed practice, these negatives are replaced with serenity, inner peace, satisfaction, contentment, balance, joy, and happiness.
“There is no path to happiness, Happiness is the path” Lord Buddha