And there is Happiness!

What did Kaira feel by the end of the movie Dear Zindagi? How did you feel when you got that one t-shirt you always wanted? How do you feel when you finally fall on your pillow after a day of finishing assignments and practical? What do you feel, when your partner gets you a gift out of nowhere? How do you feel when you finally get the closure you wanted all this time?

Happiness. That’s the word for the feeling. In all these questions, a lot of answers must have sprung to your mind: contentment, euphoria, joy, glee, peace of mind. All these are synonymous with happiness.

Happiness, according to the American Psychological Association, is “an emotion of joy, gladness, satisfaction, and well-being”. It is a state of positivity. You feel content, joyous, satisfied, and just happy with your life and world, in general. Life feels like it has a meaning, a purpose which you have the confidence of fulfilling one day. Happiness not only boosts your confidence and makes you feel positive, but it makes your body happy too. Research has shown that a happy state of living increasing our immunity and decreases the chances of cardiovascular disease.

Happiness is subjective. What makes you happy might not give me happiness much or at all, even. Magic made Harry Potter happy, not the Dursleys. Wildlife photography gave Farhan more happiness than engineering, while Rancho was genuinely interested in it. But, even with being a very subjective state of mind, happiness is still something everyone wants to feel, something everyone just knows the meaning of.

But the question arises: how would you know you’re happy?

Live for the moment, because everything else is uncertain. ~Louis Tomlinson

THE SIGNS OF HAPPINESS

For something which is loved and treasured by everyone, happiness can be quite hard to find. But many times we don’t even know that we have found it already. A happy person is one who:

– Lives by their morals and values

– Finds joy in simple things in life (listening to music, drinking chai on a rainy day, watching sunrise or sunset)

– Treats people with kindness (just like Grammy winner Harry Styles says)

– Lives in the present

– Isn’t afraid of changes in life

– Lives with humility and patience

– Doesn’t hold grudges (following the mantra of “Forgive AND forget” and not “Forgive but don’t forget)

– Is grateful for small achievements in life

– Is compassionate towards others

– Doesn’t hesitate from smiling and laughing

– Who have happy friends and family

– Who practice optimism

Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you. ~Mary Lou Retton

Positive Psychology and Happiness

The simplest way to describe positive psychology was given by Peterson in 2008 “Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living”. Martin Seligman, who founded the field of positive psychology, developed it to compliment abnormal psychology, which was the main focus till the 1980s.

Positive psychology talks about our strengths, the power of gratitude, and optimism. It has developed models and theories on how much a little change in our perspective can affect our state of mind. Life satisfaction, confidence, wellbeing, and happiness are its targets to achieve.

Positive psychology is all about maintaining the balance between positive and negative aspects of your life. Instead of focusing on all the negative things that happened to you in your college or the workplace, it shows how to focus on the good things that would have happened to (like meeting your friend on your way back home, getting to watch the football score or even eating your favorite Subway for lunch). It focuses on what makes us happy about ourselves, our life, and the world.

We become what we think about ~Emily Nightingale

H for Happiness; H for Health

So far we’ve talked about what happiness is, how you would know if you’re happy, and about an actual branch in psychology related to it. Remember we stated the benefits of happiness on health in the beginning? Let’s talk about them more in detail:

– “Gaata rahe mera dil!” – The happier you are, the healthier your heart is, with lower blood pressure and lower heart rate. So, happy heart = happy you!

– Happy people are less likely to get sick – If you have made it through this global pandemic of Covid-19, or haven’t got it at all, then clap your hands and give your happiness some credit!

– Happy people are less likely to get stress, anxious, or experience pain.

– Happy and content people are found to live longer than others – happiness makes you live forever 🙂

– Happy people are better able to cope with arthritis and chronic pain

– Happy people make others happy and, hence, healthier too. And that, my friend, is peak pro-social behavior.

“Happiness is a pop song, sadness is a poem”

– Eurus Holmes, BBC Sherlock

Happiness and Where to find it

As mentioned before, happiness is one of the only things that almost everyone in this world aims to achieve. But, as much as we desire to be happy and content, it can be quite a task. So, given below are some well-researched methods to boost our happiness:

– Conquer negative thinking. All of us get negative thoughts, but the difference lies in how we deal with them. Instead of blocking them out, one can own the negative thoughts by acknowledging them and challenging them. As Hagrid once said to Harry Potter’s friend Ron “Better out than in!”

– A lot of research has breathing exercises that improve our health and boost our happiness by calming us down. Nowadays, a lot of YouTube channels and professional Yoga instructors teach various kinds of techniques which can be extremely beneficial for us.

– Being optimistic helps too. Optimism can give us a whole new perspective on a situation. Instead of thinking “How am I supposed to complete all this work in a month?” try thinking along the lines of “I think I can complete it all. Let’s challenge ourselves!”

– Make your surroundings a happy place. De-cluttering your room can not only make the room plenty of space and germs-free, but also it helps you feel like you have shed weight, literally and figuratively. A walk in your garden, or just buying a plant and enjoying some time with it can give you a sense of contentment too.

– Rejuvenate your relationships. Spending time with those you love can do wonders for your emotional and physical health. And it’s a bonus when it’s happy people around you! A lot of research has found that even being alone can make people happy too. After all, being happy alone is way better than having to be with grumpy Grinches.

– We all coo whenever we see furry animals like a kitten or a pup. If you can, get one and see how much a connection with these cute animals adds to your happiness.

– It is said that money can’t buy happiness, and it is true. Of course, for people who live in poverty, money does that, as they don’t have to worry about a roof, clothes, and food with it. But once you have the necessities with you, money can only buy transitory happiness. It’s better, therefore, to focus on whether you are gaining any satisfaction from what you’re doing, and can make space for little me-times to refresh yourself.

Lastly, try giving yourselves a break. Life is hard, agreed. But try not to make it hard by pushing yourselves for the things that you can achieve given ample time and patience. Be generous and kind to yourselves, your body, and others. You only live once, after all!

"Purity in heart, clarity in mind, sincerity in action, and contentment is the formula of happiness." ~Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Written by:

Vanshika

Reviewed by:

Manvi Mehrotra

Aasis Kaur Sethi