The article, How Do Simple Activities Increase Well-Being?, by Lyubormirsky and Layous starts of with an abstract that is a short summary or analysis of the research article to help the reader understand the concept better. This article was about how people can increase happiness by “simple intentional positive activities, such as expressing gratitude or practicing kindness.” Investigators have recently begun to study the optimal conditions under which positive activities increase happiness and the mechanisms by which these effects work.” The authors’ reports that happiness not only feels good, it is good. Happier people have more stable marriages, stronger immune systems, higher incomes, and more creative ideas than people who aren’t as happy. …show more content…
If you show positive behaviors through performances, you have an increased well-being and in turn are much happier. “Positive activities increase positive emotions, positive thoughts, positive behaviors, and need satisfaction, all of which in turn enhance well-being.” The Positive Activity Model consists of three main features and the first is features of the activity. Features of the activity are including their dosage, variety, sequence, and built-in social support which all help at increasing happiness - dosage of a positive activity matters. Determining the ideal dosage of positive activities is complicated, however, it is likely to vary by person and by activity. When people are free to choose their happiness increasing activities, they do not view the activities as burdensome and will willingly perform them for longer and repeatedly. When people can choose their own positive activities, they are more prone to varying up their exercises. Theory and research suggest that positive changes in people’s lives are more likely to promote sustained boosts in well-being if the events generated by the positive changes are varied. The next is features of the person. For people to benefit from a positive activity, they have to engage in it, be motivated to become happier, and believe that their efforts will pay off. When participants who chose to complete happiness-increasing activities and put effort into them show bigger gains in their well-being. In addition to people’s motivation, efforts, and beliefs, people’s personalities may affect how much they stand to gain from positive activities. The perception from people support from their own pursuit of happiness and it’s likely to affect their ability to earn rewards from positive activities. We predict that happiness seekers who feel more supported by close others in
Myers, David G. "The funds, friends, and faith of happy people." American psychologist 55.1 (2000): 56.
Society pressure themselves to be happy; they often ask questions like, “does that make you happy?” What they fail to understand is that sometimes doing the right thing, for the moment, might not seem to bring happiness in one’s life, but after trekking the ups and downs of life, happiness might be waiting on the other side. From time to time people also judge good and bad through happiness. “If something is good, we feel good. If something is
Happiness has always been a desirable goal throughout our lives, but each actions we take might just affect the happiness of others. When humans seek happiness, we always seek for things that make us feel alive, or things that brings us the greatest comfort. Our contentment comes with the act of selfishness since we choose to prioritize our happiness above all other. We willingly classify happiness in two different types of meaning, both physical and mental happiness. People ought not be in title to happiness because it is classified in general as a physical desire by many people. Contentment is always known to be a physical satisfaction in life instead of a self-inducing satisfaction for life.
The studies given as examples and discussion focuses on teenagers and young adults, but includes anyone is struggling to find happiness. Evidence to Support Thesis: Point 1: The level of well-being is emphasized as more people continue to lose track of what makes them happy. Shawn Anchor is reminding people to capture the essence of simple contentment and asking his audience to think about what they value. Anchor’s book provides seven principles that involve having an open mind to becoming happier. Anchor includes other research studies as evidence to his claims throughout the book.
However, happiness also takes into account a wide range of other aspects of our lives, including our thoughts and actions, and even genetics. Therefore, happiness should be defined as the amalgamation of how we think and act, and how we interpret our experiences as positive or negative. What this means is that in order to become happier, we must simply force ourselves to become more optimistic. This is easier said than done, however. In order to have a noticeable increase in happiness, people must be willing to make lifestyle changes in addition to changing their mindset. However, the difference between optimism and delusion is a fine line, so people must be cautious to not exaggerate the positive parts of an experience or become overly optimistic. If we practice seeking out the positive views of our circumstances, with time we will find ourselves happier than
Through a series of assessment tools, she reveals the types of activities that we can commit to doing on a daily basis which will improve our level of happiness. She reinforces the numerous benefits of being happier. Happier people are more sociable and energetic, more charitable and cooperative, and better liked by others. Being happy boosts their immune systems, improves productivity, and can lead to a longer life. It allows them to be more creative and...
Will we really live longer when we are happy?Research suggests that when we are happy,we tend to live longer and have a better immune system.Health is not merely just physical aspects.Other than physical health,there are different constituents such as spiritual health,social health,mental health,emotional health and environmental health.Happiness also exists in different aspects according to the person.For example,one may feel happy when they got the latest gadget while one may feel happy when they spend time with their love ones.I do agree that there is a connection between health and happiness but it is not a cure to our longevity.In this essay I will discuss the real connection between health and happiness.
“The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living” is a collaboration by His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., who identify many possible components that could lead to a happy and satisfying life. Their approach combines and integrates the thoughts of East and West; Buddhist principles and practices on one hand and Western science and psychology on the other. Many everyday difficulties are highlighted in this book, and Dalai Lama and Dr. Cutler attempts to help the readers find appropriate solutions in order to find a balanced and lasting happiness. Dalai Lama’s understanding of the factors that ultimately lead to happiness is based on a lifetime of methodically observing his own mind, exploring the nature of the human condition, and investigating these things within a framework first established by The
In the United States 20% of the adult population report that they are living a flourishing life (Keyes, 2002). However, a high percentage reports feeling as if they are ‘‘stuck’’ or ‘‘want more’’ and are yet not diagnosable with a mental disorder (Fredrickson, 2008). Because happiness has been found to be the source of many desirable life outcomes e.g. career success, marriage, and health, it is of importance to understand, how languishing individuals can reach this ideal state: How can well-being be enhanced and misery reduced (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). Over the past decade, research in the field of positive psychology has emerged to provide evidence-based methods to increase an individual’s psychological well-being, through so called positive psychology interventions (PPI’s). PPI’s are treatment methods or intentional activities used to promote positive feelings or behaviour. PPI’s vary from writing gratitude letters, practicing optimistic thinking and replaying positive experiences. A meta-analysis of 51 independent PPI studies demonstrated significant results in the effectiveness of PPI’s increasing well-being (49 studies; r = .29) (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009).
Health and longevity positively correlated with high life satisfaction which means that individuals with high life satisfaction are more likely to be healthy and live longer (Pressman and Cohen, 2012; Diener and Chan, 2011). It was also reported that people with high life satisfaction have stronger and cardiovascular systems (Pressman and Cohen, 2005). Productivity and effectiveness in the workplace as well as success in career is also attributable to high life satisfaction (Tay, Kuykendall, Diener, 2015). Additionally, individuals with high life satisfaction engage in more physical activities (Huang and Humpreys, 2012). Presence of meaning in life as well as search for meaning in life correlated positively with life satisfaction. It is also notable that the older the respondents are, the meaning in life and presence of meaning in life also increases. Therefore, it is deemed that internal assessment of one’s purpose in life can affect life satisfaction (Santos et al.
Positive psychology has been inspiration for other psychologist in further research on the important of happiness in people lives. Myers (2000) examined happiness in relation to gender, age, income, jobs, and religious faith. According to the Myers, “around 10-15 percent of American think of themselves as truly happy (Myers, pg 56).” This indicates most of the people are not actually happy when they act l...
Only in recent years have psychologists begun to appreciate the benefits of happiness and positive emotion — benefits that include everything from enhanced creativity to improved immune-system function. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina, a leader in the field of positive psychology, posed the question, “What good are positive emotions?” and came up with the following possibilities.
In addition to anyone being happy, genuine happiness is vulnerable. “If happiness is similarly available to people of any age, sex, or race, and to those of most income levels, who is happiest?” (Myers and Diener 14), the capacity of peoples’ joy is undiminished. Self-esteem, personal control, optimism, and extraversion are four inner traits that classify happy people. People who are happy admire themselves and feel personal control, empowered rather than helpless about their lifestyle. They are also optimistic and tend to be more healthy, successful, and happier than pessimistic people. Also, people that are happy are extraverted and they are happy when they are surrounded by a lot of people and even when they are alone. They are not happy because of their status of wealth.
Achieving long-term personal happiness is possible with hard work and perseverance by using several methods. Understanding and following various steps to have fulfillment can change your life. By consistently following an assortment of important steps, you will develop a life pattern that is generally happy. Many people throughout history have attempted to find ways to become happier, and share the information with others. While there are occasionally things that should make a person unhappy, it is important to not allow unhappiness to become a lifelong pattern that destroys you mentally and physically. In addition, happy people tend to have more friends and success because they are fun to associate with.
When we are young children, we are introduced to the concept of "living happily ever after". This is a fairy-tale emotional state of absolute happiness, where nothing really happens, and nothing even seems to matter. It is a state of feeling good all the time. In fairy tales, this feeling is usually found in fulfilling marriages, royal castles, singing birds and laughing children. In real life, an even-keeled mood is more psychologically healthy than a mood in which you frequently achieve great heights of happiness. Furthermore, when you ask people what makes their lives worth living, they rarely mention their mood. They are more likely to talk about what they find meaningful, such as their work or relationships. Research suggests that if you focus too much on trying to feel good all the time, you’ll actually undermine your ability to ever feel good because no amount of feeling good will be satisfying to you. If feeling good all the time were the only requirement for happiness, then a person who uses cocaine every day would be extremely happy. In our endless struggle for more money, more love and more security, we have forgotten the most fundamental fact: happiness is not caused by possessions or social positions, and can in fact be experienced in any daily activity. We have made happiness a utopia: expensive, complicated, and unreachable.