DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPINESS IS?

 

What is happiness?  

According to the dictionary definition, happiness is the state of mind of someone who is serene, untroubled by pain or worries. According to psychologists, it’s the ability to experience positive emotions, realize one’s aspirations and develop talents. For philosophers it’s the increase of one’s potential that can only be achieved by knowing oneself. For the religious it’s faith, prayer and forgiveness. According to the students it’s a good grade, for those who play sports it’s a won race, for a couple it’s love, for poets it’s their way of being. For many others is wealth, health, luck, success and much more. But then, what is happiness really? 

 Obviously, happiness changes from person to person, from context to context. For me happiness is the ability to control the challenges given by fate, is not having what you want but wanting what you have, it’s sharing and loving without rancour, selfishness and greed. It’s that feeling of peace, serenity and completeness experienced by enjoying the many small moments of life that lead to satisfaction and optimism. I think happiness can be divided into three types: emotional, moral and judgmental. 

Emotional happiness is a transitory personal state that occurs when good things happen in a specific moment and the emotions felt are joy, affection and satisfaction for, for example, a goal achieved, a film finishing as you desired, a breathtaking sunset seen or a hug received. 

Moral happiness is a set of philosophical attitudes that lead to follow the right path in life and assume self-awareness of one’s actions. This type of happiness is found by those who are empathetic, honest, kind, who tolerate and are ready to sacrifice themselves for others.

Judgmental happiness is a state of well-being that depends on personal judgments about the world in the present, past or future.

 Now that I’ve defined happiness, where does it come from though?

For me, happiness depends on the following factors: freedom, commitment, relationships, positive emotions and success.

With the term freedom I mean the ability to think, speak, choose and act without having to feel limited by the judgments of society. It’s essential to find yourself, to be independent and determined to be able to experience positive emotions.

Happiness depends on commitment because it’s not achieved by doing nothing, but as a result of our efforts. Creating, earning and caring allow us to experience sensations of pleasure and satisfaction. 

Positive interpersonal relationships as well as love ones are essential to feel less alone, to share intimacy, joy and pain. If made of true bonds and pure and genuine feelings, they are the main source of happiness in everyone’s life. 

Positive emotions, such as hope, self-irony and optimism lead to a positive mood and stimulate creativity.

And finally the success that reinforces self-esteem, satisfaction, the sense of self-efficacy and consequently increases happiness. However, achieving success as stated by recent studies can often lead to stress, disappointment, negative emotions and,  therefore, can have a negative impact on mental health. This type of “happiness” is apparent, i.e. initially it seems to achieve good, beautiful and positive things but then it turns out to be something with bad consequences.

 So what can we do to achieve true happiness?

 Keeping mood levels high it’s the first step to being happy. To maintain a good mood it’s useful to think about the positive aspects of a day, even if they are small ones, we should become more inclined to notice the beautiful things in life. Self-irony is also useful, smiling at one’s misfortunes helps to put things back into perspective. We can console ourselves, for example, by thinking that compared to the size of the universe, our little problems and the daily stresses that afflict us are very little. Altruism and generosity are other ways to be positive, helping someone makes us feel happier and more fulfilled. Practicing gratitude can also boost mood, perhaps writing a letter, praying, or practicing daily affirmations.

It is important to be aware and achieve a balance between private life and work, which must turn towards progress and not perfection. 

 Happiness is important for ourselves but also for others. How to make someone happy then? 

Cheering someone up just for the sake of it can result in one of the most rewarding feelings. Expressing positive feelings, making people feel special, complimenting, encouraging, listening, thanking and celebrating the successes of others are in my opinion great ways to create positivity that improves the happiness of those around us.

I have often had the opportunity to help others and even if I did little, I was able to make people smile and give them a positive thing to think about during the day. I have helped, for example, elderly ladies and gentlemen by carrying their shopping bags, by offering a meal to the needy, by giving a free hug to those who were crying or rescuing those who were injured.

To conclude I think that there is no objective answer to the question: “What is happiness?”

We all attribute different definitions to this word, depending on the experiences we have had the opportunity to make during our lives. That everyone wants a happy life is a fact. Since ancient times, the search for happiness has been a theme that has occupied the thoughts of many writers, artists and philosophers.

The truth is that people have different points of view and, therefore, there is not a right or wrong concept of happiness or a path that can answer or satisfy anyone’s pursuit. Happiness is a subjective state of mind that needs to be possessed before being described.  

MARINA L., 3sc