{"id":907,"date":"2019-09-20T07:32:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T12:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/?p=907"},"modified":"2019-09-20T16:44:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T21:44:31","slug":"be-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/be-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I used to think happiness was genetic, that happy people\nwere born that way. That\u2019s only half-true; some research\nsuggests that 50% is determined by heredity<\/a>. What about the other half? About\n10% comes from living conditions. The remaining 40% depends on YOU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happiness Defined<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Happiness is not just the absence of sadness. It\u2019s related\nto optimism, hope, pleasure, and joy, but it\u2019s not interchangeable with any of\nthem. It\u2019s difficult to quantify, to measure, and to track. And it\u2019s something\nthat most people say they want. Even the U.S.  Declaration of Independence included the\npursuit of happiness as an inalienable right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The World\nHappiness Report,<\/a> which ranks countries by how happy its citizens perceive\nthemselves to be, provides a series of social snapshots over time. Finland\nretained its number one spot, while the U.S. dropped to No. 19, its worst\nranking ever<\/a>. Maybe we need a revival of happiness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive psychology researchers often refer to happiness as subjective well-being<\/em>. That means it\u2019s an emotional feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment. Sonja Lyubomirsky, in The How of Happiness<\/a>, defines it as \u201cthe experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one\u2019s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.\u201d The first part of her definition describes an emotional feeling of satisfaction. The second part addresses fulfillment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happiness is the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one\u2019s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile. <\/p> Sonja Lyubomirsky <\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Happiness comes from inside you. You may feel<\/em>\npositive emotions from your dog. Or from traveling across the planet. Or from\nsandy beaches. But if you rely<\/em> on external stimuli to be happy, it will\nbe challenging at best to maintain your well-being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keys to happiness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a blog post earlier\nthis year<\/a>, I mentioned a Coursera course I had taken on the Science of\nWell-Being.  Professor Laurie Santos developed\nit after studying the science, data and psychology on happiness. It became the\nmost popular course offered at Yale, and with the online program, reached over\n400,000 people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santos provides insights from empirical data. She states\nthat our minds can lie to us about what will make us happy. We may think it\nwill come from buying that house, getting that promotion, or making more money.\nThose may cause a bump in positive feelings, but it\u2019s temporary. And if you don\u2019t\nget that house, promotion, or money, do you become substantially less happy?\nAgain, it\u2019s temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to stop focusing on the things that don\u2019t matter,\nand focus on the things that do.  In a\nCBS interview, Santos listed the following keys to happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n