I think most of us have had the experience of being amazed at how happy some people can be, even when faced with very unpleasant life circumstances. On the other hand, there are many people (some well-known celebrities come to mind) that appear to be blessed with “everything” in life, yet are plagued by personal difficulties. In this post, I’ll look at some of the current ideas about happiness, why some people seem to be happier than others, and ways to increase one’s personal level of happiness.
Happiness is defined in the dictionary as “feeling or showing pleasure or contentment,” and it’s something we all strive for. In fact, the right to pursue it is even written into the Declaration of Independence: “…certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Happiness is not only important to Americans however; to paraphrase Aristotle, it is perhaps the central goal of human existence. Clearly, the attainment of happiness is important to all of us. And just as clearly, it seems, material wealth does not necessarily lead to a happier life. How can this be?
It turns out that the factors that mostly influence how happy we’ll be are our personality and temperament; in other words, how we tend to interpret and relate to the world at large. These characteristics are based upon our genetics, plus our early childhood years. These are determined either at birth or at a very early stage of life (the personality is pretty much “set” by age 2), and we can’t do much about either of them.
The other two major determinants of future happiness are the circumstances in which we find ourselves at any given time (things like health, income, and geographical locale) and current life activities (such as engagement with others; eating right; exercising regularly; and from a cognitive standpoint, trying to look at the “bright side” of life).
Of the two of these, that is life circumstances and life activities, the former does not really have a significant long-term effect on happiness. Yes, it’s true that if you win the lottery, you will experience a significant boost in happiness; however, it turns out that this is short-lived. Studies have been done that look at lottery winners, for instance, and found that within a couple of years, they have reverted to their pre-winning level of happiness. (This is why people who have focused their energies solely on material gain remain personally troubled. Simply put, material wealth is not a cure for unhappiness).
Conversely, if you look at people that have suffered a disabling injury or illness, there is a temporary decline in their reported level of happiness (as you might expect). Over time, their level of happiness rises, back to its former baseline.
How then, can we pursue this elusive state of bliss? Are we as powerless as we seem to be? Don’t give up hope just yet! Remember, I haven’t talked much about how life activities may be factoring in to the happiness equation. As you might have guessed by now, it is by changing our life activities that we can achieve a significantly greater level of happiness that does persist.
This kind of makes sense, if you think about it. Life circumstances are just that, circumstances. They may change from time to time (getting a raise, moving to an expensive home, buying a luxury car) but they tend to remain relatively static over time, and do not require any ongoing personal effort once we have attained them. In a sense, we get used to the idea of having more creature comforts available to us. This is referred to in the literature as “hedonic decay,” which is the tendency for the effects of either positive or negative changes in our life circumstances to fade over time.
Life activities, on the other hand, require the ongoing expenditure of effort and energy on our parts (starting a new project, going back to graduate school, embarking on a new career path). In turn, these kinds of changes will most likely result in new experiences, new social ties to other people and the community, and a different way of viewing oneself. Exposure to new circumstances leads to new opportunities and possibilities presenting themselves, which in turn may very well lead to long-term positive benefits.
Of these life activities, those considered to be altruistic are among the most powerful agents of change. It seems that by expressing positive emotions and helping others (without being emotionally overwhelmed) we can ultimately achieve not only a greater sense of personal well-being and happiness, but also improved health and longevity.
References
Post, S. G. (2005). Altruism, happiness, and health: It’s good to be good. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12, 66-77.
Sheldon, K. M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). Achieving sustainable gains in happiness: Change your actions, not your circumstances. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 55-86.
