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• Study Stoic philosophy. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that can help you find the strength and stamina to gracefully handle the challenges of everyday life, improve your health, and experience true happiness.

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Lisa Egan

What is happiness?

Ask several people this question (including yourself), and you will likely get a wide variety of answers.

While it plays an important role in our lives, researchers have yet to agree on a definition or framework for happiness because it is hard to define scientifically. In fact, happiness guru Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, recently told Forbes that there are 15 academic definitions of happiness!

Most of us probably don’t think too much about an actual definition for happiness anyway – we know it when we feel it.

However, in the last few decades, researchers have learned a lot about happiness.

Experts have developed several theories about what happiness is.

Researchers in the positive psychology field (the scientific study of what makes life most worth living) use the term happiness interchangeably with “subjective well-being,” according to Greater Good Magazine. This is measured by simply asking people to report how satisfied they feel with their own lives and how much positive and negative emotion they’re experiencing.

The article What is Happiness and Why is It Important? (+ Definition in Psychology) explains that there are many different theories of happiness, but they generally fall into one of two categories based on how they conceptualize happiness (or well-being):

Hedonic happiness/well-being is happiness conceptualized as experiencing more pleasure and less pain; it is composed of an affective component (high positive affect and low negative affect) and a cognitive component (satisfaction with one’s life).

Eudaimonic happiness/well-being conceptualizes happiness as the result of the pursuit and attainment of life purpose, meaning, challenge, and personal growth; happiness is based on reaching one’s full potential and operating at full functioning (AIPC, 2011). (source)

In the book, The How of Happiness, positive psychology researcher Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky describes happiness as “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.”

Happiness International has developed a theory on happiness that is largely based on scientific discoveries about how the brain works and on current happiness theories. It “identifies 9 universal and overlapping human needs which go by the handy acronym WE PROMISE.”

WE PROMISE stands for:

Wellbeing – mind-body connections, aspects of your physical body that affect your mood, and vice versa

Environment – external factors like safety, food availability, freedom, weather, beauty, and your home

Pleasure – temporary experiences such as joy, sex, love, and eating

Relationships – as a social species, relationships are at the foundation of what it means to be human

Outlook – how you approach the world through adventurousness, curiosity, and making plans

Meaning – having a purpose and the wisdom to understand it

Involvement – to be happy you have to be engaged and actively involved

Success – confirmation from yourself and others that what you do has value

Elasticity – how you recover from life’s inevitable negative events (source)

There are a few common myths about happiness.

Have you found yourself saying things like “I’ll be happy if I get this promotion” or “When I’m married, I’ll finally be happy?” If so, you may be falling for some happiness myths, as Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky explains in The Pursuit of Happiness: 3 Myths Everyone Should Stop Believing:…

11 things you can do to increase your happiness.

• Discover your strengths – and use them. Research shows that people who identify their strengths and use them in daily life are happier overall. If you aren’t sure what your strengths are, try taking an assessment like this one: Character Strengths Survey
• Build healthy relationships. Research consistently shows that social connections are key to happiness. Close relationships and support from others also matter a great deal.
• Practice savoring.  This is the art of maintaining and deepening positive feelings by becoming more aware of them. “Research suggests that our ability to savor impacts how much of a mood boost we get from happy events,” explains Greater Good Magazine. For more on savoring, see 10 Steps to Savoring the Good Things in Life.
• Be forgiving. Studies show that forgiving people helps us feel better about ourselves, experience more positive emotions, and feel closer to others.
• Express gratitude. Every morning when you wake up, and every evening before you go to sleep, think of at least one thing you are grateful for. Keeping a gratitude journal can also help you learn to recognize and appreciate all the little (and not so little) things that matter.
• Be kind to others. In his book, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, Martin Seligman explains that helping others can improve our own lives: “…we scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we have tested.” And, research has revealed that people report greater happiness when they spend money on others than when they spend it on themselves. And, neuroscience research shows that when we do nice things for others, our brains light up in areas associated with pleasure and reward.
• Get moving. Studies consistently show that physical activity does wonders for mental health and has profound positive impacts on happiness and overall well-being. Even a few minutes a day can help – some is better than none, so do what you can. You don’t need fancy equipment or a gym membership. Schedule time to walk every day, if you can. For more on how to build a regular walking routine, please see Why You Should Walk 10,000 Steps Per Day, and How to Do It.
• Spend time outside. “Being connected to nature and feeling happy are, in fact, connected,” reported a 2014 study. Time spent in nature reduces stress and boosts your mood.
• Get adequate sleep. How can you expect to be happy if you are sleep-deprived? Research has consistently linked lower sleep to less happiness. A study led by Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman that involved more than 900 women found that getting just one more hour of sleep each night might have a greater effect on happiness than a $60,000 raise. For a list of things you can do to naturally improve the quality and quantity of your sleep, please see Six (More) Reasons to Get Better Quality Sleep.
• Be mindful about spending. How you spend money matters a great deal, according to Greater Good Magazine:

Spend money in the right ways by buying social experiences, giving to others, and expressing your identity.

But don’t focus on material wealth: After our basic needs our met, research suggests, more money doesn’t bring us more happiness—in fact, a study by Kahneman found that Americans’ happiness rose with their income only until they’d made roughly $75,000; after that, their happiness plateaued. And research by Richard Easterlin has found that in the long run, countries don’t become happier as they become wealthier. Perhaps that’s why, in general, people who prioritize material things over other values are much less happy, and comparing ourselves with people who have more is a particular source of unhappiness. It also suggests why more egalitarian countries consistently rank among the happiest in the world. (source)

• Study Stoic philosophy. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that can help you find the strength and stamina to gracefully handle the challenges of everyday life, improve your health, and experience true happiness. As I explained in Stoicism: How This Ancient Philosophy Can Empower You to Improve Your Health and Your Life:

Stoicism is an eudaimonic philosophy. Eudaimonia is a term that means a life worth living, often translated as “happiness” in the broad sense, or more appropriately, flourishing.

It teaches us to embrace problems, accept them, prepare to challenge them, and take action to overcome them.

Stoicism is a vibrant, action-oriented, paradigm-shifting way of living. It is an ideal philosophy for those seeking the Good Life.

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