Happiness – the reward all people want to conquer and bring home as souvenir. But is it a final destination, which you should reach or is it more about the continuous adventures that happen in life?
What is happeness?
Biologically – group of hormones that help to promote positive feelings. One of the most famous is Dopamine – it is a neurotransmitter and take a huge role in the brain`s reward system.
Other helpful hormone is Serotonin. It regulates anxiety, happiness and mood and more specifically causes tiny arteries to narrow, helping form blood clots. It is known that low levels of this chemical are related with depression, and increased ones brought on by medication are thought to decrease arousal.
Psychologically – happiness is life experience marked by a prevalence of positive emotion. Psychologists often find that is more important and helpful to search what activities make people happy than just looking for specific factors. Three distinct sources can be underline: Pleasure, Challenge and Meaning.
According writers – quoting Juan Olivarez`s poem Happiness:
Happiness is family to me.
Happiness in the faces, I longed to see,
Happiness is once more being free.
No one, except you, can push you to have positive thoughts and good vibes. Professionals and friends can give you advice or steps to follow to find the happiness, but only you decide whether to listen to them.
Let`s define some basic topics, which always have impact on individual`s sense of good, meaningful and valuable life:
Appreciation – big title with lead role. To feel appreciated and to feel appreciation are two states that go toghether. Not to take people or things for granted is the key to feel grateful for what you have, what you have achieved and have opportunity to achieve in the future.
‘We tend to forget that happiness does not come as a result of getting something we do not have, but rather of recognizing & appreciating what we do have.’ Frederick Keonig
Relationships – always surrond yourself with people with positive view. If you live with someone who has negative understanding for all things that happen, it will not lead to something good in the end, right? You will start to hesitate, change your habits and feel melancholy.
If you can change these people and bring joy in their life span, try. If you see that this is causa perduta, just stop. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.
Achievement – cannot mention what we all have – job, no matter if it is full-time or part-time. What you are doing reflect on how you will feel. If you are working something you do not like, just do not and find what really motivate you.
‘If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life’. Marc Anthony
PERMA and its application in every aspects of life
Positive psychologist Martin Seligment presents this comprehensive model of well-being, including 5 main components:
- Positive emotions – feeling good and being optimistic;
- Engagement – being completely committed in different activities;
- Relationships – being authentic when you communicate and connect with others;
- Meaning – purposeful existence;
- Achievement – sense of accomplishment and success.
For better understanding of this model, recommend to watch Dr. Martin Seligments`s lecture here:
There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy, do not close your eyes and always find them in the little things that surround you.
Sources:
Main photo: hbr.org
