WEEKEND WISDOM
Happiness is a broad concept that can stem from a variety of positive emotions. It might come in the form of joy or excitement when we experience particularly fun moments in life. It can also come from feeling grateful for the things we have, proud of the things we have accomplished, or optimistic about what it still to come. Or it can be a feeling we find in moments of contentment or love for the people around us. Elizabeth Scott looks at the subject of Happiness
By Elizabeth Scott
Happiness can take different forms and represents a spectrum of satisfying emotions that contribute to emotional and physical well-being. When you think of happiness, it might stem from joy, excitement, gratitude, pride, optimism, contentment, or love.
Pursuing happiness is one of the most common human searches, but it tends to be an elusive goal.
Luckily for us, the experience of “happiness” can take many forms and result from various behaviors and life circumstances. Research can now point us to concrete ways to find or develop these various forms of happiness in our lives.
Joy
The feeling of joy comes from losing yourself in the present moment and appreciating what you have. It’s fleeting in that it can sneak up on you and sometimes can disappear if you try to analyze it too much. It can also be found in many things if you have the right attitude and perspective, so it’s a relatively accessible form of happiness to seek.
How to Find Joy: The easiest way to find joy is to engage in activities you know usually bring you joy. This can be anything from yoga to amusement parks to your favorite music. It’s also important to try some new things to find novel avenues of joy.
Excitement
Though it can last longer than joy, this emotion is still somewhat fleeting—it dissipates rather quickly and can turn into ennui. However, it can be a motivating factor.
For example, excitement about a new job can motivate you to work harder, and excitement about a new relationship can motivate you to put more effort into working through difficulties.
Excitement can also help you to get through jitters. Feeling nervous about certain experiences is normal, but shifting how you view those situations can help you feel more excited than scared.
If you tell yourself you are excited rather than anxious or nervous, studies have found, you can channel that potentially uncomfortable energy into more constructive activity.
Excitement can also extend the positive feelings you get from an activity. If you focus on your excited feelings of anticipation, the fun of a vacation can extend into the days and weeks before you even leave.
How to Cultivate Excitement: Excitement isn’t too difficult to come by, either, so this is an easy one to pursue. Take on new challenges. Keep a bucket list. Let yourself revel in anticipation when you have something big coming up.
Gratitude
Gratitude can disappear if you don’t actively focus on it, but it’s also an important form of happiness. According to research, those who feel gratitude regularly tend to be happier and healthier than those who are less prone to these feelings.
Cultivating these feelings of gratitude has been shown to ward off feelings of depression, among other things. It may be less obvious, but this type of happiness can be brought to mind again and again.
How to Feel More Grateful: Fortunately, cultivating gratitude isn’t difficult. You can use a gratitude journal, loving-kindness meditation, or even simply tell people in your life that you appreciate them, and do it often.
Pride
While smug or competitive pride can be negative, feelings of pride in your accomplishments can be a happiness-boosting form of gratitude. You can take pride in your work, your family, your home, yourself, and in anything you put effort, care, and love into.
You can cultivate a healthy sense of pride by including personal accomplishments in your gratitude journal or keeping a list of “wins” at the end of each day. This isn’t the same as bragging or being “full of yourself.” You’re not saying that you’re better than others because of your accomplishments. Instead, you’re showing that you’re a better form of yourself, and you’re appreciating this fact.
Other Ways to Develop Pride:
Notice the things you do well
Celebrate your successes
Enjoy the learning process
Set goals and appreciate new challenges
Try new things
Appreciate what others have to offer
Optimism
Studies also connect optimism with greater outcomes in life. Optimists tend to focus on possibilities and have a combination of gratitude and pride.
They’re grateful for all of the possibilities life presents, proud of their abilities to harness these resources, and have a strong belief in themselves and their ability to make their attempts at whatever goals they pursue success.
Optimists, when faced with disappointment, tend to minimize it, pinpoint how they can do better next time, and see mitigating factors that led to their negative outcomes. When they succeed, they give themselves credit and take it as a sign of better things to come. Optimism tends to be an overall way of being, so it’s less fleeting than other forms of happiness.
Become More Optimistic:
Notice when good things happen
Reframe negative thoughts
Forgive yourself for your mistakes
Cultivate positive self-talk
Show gratitude
Take credit for your successes
Remind yourself that setbacks are temporary
Find positive sources of inspiration
Contentment
Contentment means being happy with what you have. Those who are content are less disappointed by life’s drawbacks and feel lucky to have what they have in their lives already.
People strive to feel this form of happiness, and it can come with a focus of gratitude on what you have as well as a feeling that you have climbed high and deserve to enjoy the rewards that come with the effort. Reveling in your accomplishments and in everything you have can bring contentment, so focusing on what you have is a great way to stay content.
How to Increase Contentment
Strategies that can help increase contentment include avoiding comparing yourself to others and practicing self-acceptance.
Love
Love and happiness are sometimes said to be interchangeable, that love is an infinite source of happiness, and happiness itself is a form of love. However you look at it, both are vital to have in your life.
True love is fabled to be extremely difficult to come by, but in actuality, love can be found all around you. Family, friends, romantic partners, and even pets can all be sources of love, and focusing on all of these relationships can greatly enrich your life. This is a form of happiness that can come in endless supply.
Finding Love in Your Life
Even though stressful relationships can sap us of happiness, healthy and supportive relationships can bring great and lasting happiness. Focusing on relationship skills, spending time with loved ones, and, in other ways, cultivating these relationships can help you to keep this form of happiness in your life.
Keep in Mind
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to finding happiness in life. You’ll never find a secret recipe or step-by-step guide that can lead to lasting happiness. Instead, happiness is a continual process that ebbs and flows naturally as you encounter different experiences, events, stresses, and relationships. Look for ways to bring different positive emotions into your daily life, including joy, excitement, pride, gratitude, contentment, and love.
Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.
