happiness: an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment
Is there any feeling in life that compares with experiencing true happiness? It’s like a euphoria that envelops us from which we never want to depart. To be truly happy is to be blissfully isolated from the fears, anger, sadness and negativity that surround us in our daily lives.
Happiness is intoxicating.
It calls us. We long for its comfort and contentment. We hunger for its nourishment. We eagerly seek to bathe in its exhilaration. “I just want to be happy” is the mantra of every generation.
Alas, happiness proves to be an elusive goal. The 21st century is challenging us seemingly more each day to find happiness in our lives. We are increasingly surrounded by conflict, blatant bias, the devaluing of truth, the sadness, frustration and social isolation of a pandemic, the soul-depressing impotence of our eroding power to make a difference as individuals in a complex world. Finding true happiness in 2022 is indeed challenging.
Yet the quest continues because every human is hard-wired to seek that innate sense of balance and well-being that is the essence of our humanity. We know in the depth of our being that we have the capacity of experiencing true happiness, so we continue to seek it out.
But the danger in today’s world, with its incessant negativity, is the inevitable numbing of our spirit. We too often feel beat down so that true happiness seems unattainable.
We cannot allow our striving for happiness to be suppressed by life.
Just how important is it that we keep happiness consistently in our life and not let the world around us numb us to its life-affirming power? June Silny at Happify outlines 14 research-backed reasons why each of us should keep our proactive search for happiness part of our daily to-do list...
1. Happy people are more successful in multiple life domains, including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health.
2. Happy people get sick less often and experience fewer symptoms when they do get sick.
3. Happy people have more friends and a better support system.
4. Happy people donate more to charity (and giving money to charity makes you happy, too).
5. Happy people are more helpful and more likely to volunteer—which also makes you happier!
6. Happy people have an easier time navigating through life since optimism eases pain, sadness, and grief.
7. Happy people have a positive influence on others and encourage them to seek happiness as well, which can act as reinforcement.
8. Happy people engage in deeper and more meaningful conversations.
9. Happy people smile more, which is beneficial to your health.
10. Happy people exercise more often and eat more healthily.
11. Happy people are happy with what they have rather than being jealous of others.
12. Happy people are healthier all around and more likely to be healthy in the future.
13. Happy people live longer than those who are not as happy.
14. Happy people are more productive and more creative, and this effect extends to all those experiencing positive emotions.
In other words, working at finding and keeping happiness in our life is well worth the effort. It’s not just something that would make us feel good. Happiness can seriously impact our life... make our life better... more fulfilling... be a catalyst for finding true meaning in our life. Scientists refer to happiness as “Subjective Well-Being” or SWB. And it is that state of well-being that provides the environment in which so much of life’s fulfilling work can thrive and grow.
The happier we are, the richer our life can be. So we must each work at making our life happier in every possible way. We must fight the negativity and embrace both positive thinking and positive action
And happiness is contagious.
One of our most important social responsibilities is to spread happiness to others. Happiness is indeed contagious. In a world of pain, anger and anxiety, we can infect those we touch with the joy, satisfaction, contentment and fulfillment of happiness to better our society and our world.
I feel a calling to be a positive role model, to reject negativity and lift up others. My commitment to live an ever-aspiring, ever-ageless life demands no less.
How happy are you? How much happier could you be if you CHOOSE to be happier?
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Check out our archive of past blog posts. There are lots of interesting topics there.