For a Happier New Year

What is happiness anyway? Charlie Brown said that happiness is a warm puppy. But I think it is much more than that. I like the definition given by Sonja Lyumbomirsky in her book The How of Happiness, a Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want.

"I use the term happiness to refer to the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one's life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile."

Happiness is not easy to measure.It is inherently subjective and defined by the person. No one can determine how happy you are, really.  And, in spite of what you may have thought, no one can MAKE you happy but yourself. Happiness is not a destination, something you must FIND.  forty percent of our happiness is determined by intentional activity on your part, strategies that you can implement to remake yourself as a happier person.

Nor does your happiness lie in changing your circumstances. Happiness occurs from the inside out, no matter what your circumstances. There are people living in desperate circumstances that can still be happy people. They don't depend on their circumstances to determine how they think or feel. My grandmother could always find something positive in every situation, even the most difficult ones. She was a happy woman. No, she wasn't a jolly woman. She was genuinely happy no matter what.

And while some people seem to be happy from birth, or unhappy from birth. But happiness is not generic. For the most part it is learned.

Circumstances  account for only about 10 percent in how different folks feel.* So whatever happens in 2018 you can be happier.

If you seriously want to have a happier life, I recommend Lyumbomirsky's book. It can help you find your current happiness set point and then show you how to raise it. Learn what activities that fit your interests, values, and needs that you might choose to increase your happiness. I'll describe a few of them in my next blog. But using the book yourself is a great place to start.

   * Sonja Lyumbomirsky, The How of Happiness, a Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want.