"Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities" - Aldous Huxley.
Did you do your homework? What is happiness? Joy, excitement, love, pleasure, contentment, bliss? What would make you happier? Marriage, material wealth, a holiday, a better job? When we get these things we'll be happy, right? Not really. Happiness is not a goal at the end of the rainbow or something we should pursue in and of itself. Studies show that happiness tends to be found in the small everyday things steeped around us rather than the big-ticket items of life, as Aldous Huxley's quote so nicely depicts.
Many of us colloquially think happiness refers to pleasurable feelings, and this is certainly a part of it. However, studies show that if you want to get the most out of life, then you need to look beyond pleasure. We adapt to pleasure and it is not enough to sustain us, as I will explain in upcoming articles. To be wholeheartedly happy one needs not only to experience positive emotions on a daily basis, but to also feel that your life has meaning and purpose, and that you are satisfied with your life as a whole. This contributes to our overall wellbeing, and what I refer to as gutsy happiness.
Gutsy happiness is seen when a person is gaining in five areas of life - positive emotions, engagement, positive relationships, meaning and achievement (PERMA). While most people are doing well in one or two of these areas, few of us are doing well in all five. To squeeze the most out of life (flourish and thrive) then you need to live effectively in all five. Upcoming articles will focus on activities in each of these areas.
Positive emotions contribute bucketloads to happiness, so this is a good place to start.
