Happiness

Biofeedback uses machines to measure muscular and autonomic activity in order to have control over the stress responses.

HAPPINESS

Happiness is difficult to define. It can be looked at in many different ways. Some people see happiness in a religious light, while others see happiness as a sense of contentment and satisfaction with life. Still others view happiness as having all of the different things one needs to be comfortable in life. Each of these definitions touches on a dimension of happiness.

There has been suggested that there are three major elements that define happiness. These include the good life, the pleasant life, and the meaningful life. The good life means having the means to be enriched in life. The pleasant life involves one s surroundings and relationships. The meaningful life involves having a sense of fulfillment in ways that benefit the world around us. Together, these things involve what s called a full life.

Happiness is considered a long-term state of being rather than having episodes of a positive mood. Most people are generally happy and have more positive feelings than negative feelings. On a scale of one to ten, most people rate themselves as about 5 on a happiness scale, with people in certain parts of the world doing better than others. Some research indicates that happiness levels have diminished in recent years.

It helps to understand exactly what factors contribute to having happiness. Age contribute to happiness, with older people being happier than younger people. There are no gender differences in being happy. Social relationships and family are highly correlated with happiness so that people who are divorced or single feel themselves to be less happy. A country whose people are wealthier is one that has more happiness but, over a certain income, there is no increase in happiness.

People who are better educated with jobs that are meaningful tend to be happier but intelligence by itself is not linked to happiness. Being religious increases one s happiness, even in poorer living environments. Being well thought of in one s culture is

also linked to happiness. Parenthood and physical attractiveness are not correlated with being happy.

People in general are poor predictors of future happiness. Most people overpredict their level of happiness in most situations, predicting they will be happy if certain things would take place in their life, such as winning the lottery, when this just doesn t happen. Some people also think that severe injuries or the loss of a loved one would lead to permanent unhappiness, when this too doesn t occur. Some things lead to transient happiness but then we become adapted to them and we are less happy. Such adaptation doesn t necessarily mean that events have no impact on long-term happiness.

The concept of positive psychology is only a couple of decades old but it has been proposed as a field of study in order to look at the science of happiness. It looks more on people s strengths and on what leads to happiness, rather than on people s problems, faults, and mental illnesses. Things that are being studied include empathy, altruism, forgiveness, compassion, and creativity.

Research has also been done on the issue of positive affect, which is a way of looking at things with a positive spin on it. Having a positive affect helps to decrease depression, increase social connectedness, and improve longevity. A positive affect is somewhat protective against having heart disease. Another predictor of good health is being optimistic about things. Positive affect and optimism are not the same thing. Positive affect deals with feelings and optimism looks at the future outcomes.