Practice Excessive Happiness

In recent years there has been an explosion of research on happiness, optimism, positive emotions and healthy character traits. Dr. Martin Seligman is Director of the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center and founder of Positive Psychology. He was one of the experts featured in Time Magazine's January 2005 issue devoted entirely to "The Science of Happiness".

While psychology has traditionally concerned itself with what ails the human mind--such as anxiety, depression, neurosis, obsessions, paranoia, and delusions--, Dr. Seligman proposed a new goal for psychology. He asked the question: "What are the enabling conditions that make human beings flourish?" That is, his goal was to create a branch of psychology that would study what actively made people feel fulfilled, engaged and meaningfully happy.

Dr. Seligman's biggest recommendation for lasting happiness is to figure out your strengths and find new ways to deploy them. You can do this at his website, authentichappiness.com.

University of Illinois psychologist Edward Diener created one of the most basic and widely used tools for assessing happiness, the Satisfaction with Life Scale. This tool is in the public domain and it asks you to do the following:

Below are five statements that you may agree or disagree with. Using the 1 - 7 scale indicate your agreement with each item by placing the appropriate number on the line preceding that item.

* 7 - Strongly agree

* 6 - Agree

* 5 - Slightly agree

* 4 - Neither agree nor disagree

* 3 - Slightly disagree

* 2 - Disagree

* 1 - Strongly disagree

____ In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

____ The conditions of my life are excellent.

____ I am satisfied with my life.

____ So far I have gotten the important things I want in life.

____ If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.

• 35 - 31 Extremely satisfied


• 26 - 30 Satisfied


• 21 - 25 Slightly satisfied


• 20 Neutral


• 15 - 19 Slightly dissatisfied


• 10 - 14 Dissatisfied


• 5 - 9 Extremely dissatisfied

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In 1996 University of Minnesota researcher David Lykken published a paper looking at the role of genes in determining one's sense of satisfaction in life.

Lykken gathered information on 4,000 sets of twins born in Minnesota from 1936 through 1955. After comparing happiness data on identical vs. fraternal twins, he concluded that about 50% of one's satisfaction in life comes from genetic programming. That is, genetics establishes a set point level of happiness.

In addition, circumstantial factors like your health, job, income, marital status, and where you live-which are difficult to change--contribute about 8% to one's overall well-being. However, the remaining percentage, that is, a little over 40%, is up to the individual. That is, fully 40% of happiness is within our control. We can make the decision to be happy, and take certain steps which are conducive to happiness.

You can raise your set point level of happiness by working on the following three components of happiness:

A. Getting more pleasure out of life;
B. Becoming more engaged in what you do; and
C. Finding ways of making your life feel more meaningful.

You can read more about this here: "Is our happiness preordained?"

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In the YouTube video above Psychologist Dan Johnston explains that if you don't have a list of twenty things you like to do, then you don't have a menu for being able to enjoy life. The list needs to include things that are fun, as well as things that give you a sense of accomplishment. Then every day you have to do some of the things that are on your list.

If your energy is low you might not feel like doing the items on your list. That is, your strategy might be to wait until your energy level is back up. However, you have to do the items on your list whether you feel like it or not. If you make yourself do it, if it's something that you've enjoyed in the past, or something that has given you a sense of accomplishment in the past, there's a good chance that you'll enjoy it again, which will give you your energy back. So every day by intentionally doing things you enjoy- even if it's petting your dog or drinking a cup of coffee-what you're doing is building up your energy resources.

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Now there is a word to describe a feeling that has always existed but has just moved out of the realm of philosophy and religion and been recognized as a distinct emotional state. It's "elevation", a term coined by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt. (Source)

Elevation is the physical sensation that comes from witnessing goodness in others. It evokes in us a desire to become a better person, or to lead a better life. UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner is a pioneer in the study of elevation and he explains that it's characterized by a warm, open, pleasant feeling, "liquid warmth in the chest and a lump in the throat."

The emotion of elevation can be triggered by listening to great oratory, like Martin Luther King's speech "I Have a Dream"; many people felt elevation on November 4th when they listened to Barack Obama's victory speech. It can also be triggered by watching a stranger helping another stranger.

In Haidt's article "Elevation and the Positive Psychology of Morality" he includes an anecdote from Thomas Jefferson's life. In 1771 Jefferson's friend Robert Skipwith wrote to him asking for advice on what books to buy for his library. Jefferson sent back a long list of titles in history, philosophy, and natural science. He also included some works of fiction and he justified this advice by pointing to the beneficial emotional effects of great fiction:

"[E]very thing is useful which contributes to fix us in the principles and practice of virtue. When any ... act of charity or of gratitude, for instance, is presented either to our sight or imagination, we are deeply impressed with its beauty and feel a strong desire in ourselves of doing charitable and grateful acts also . . .

[I ask whether] the fidelity of Nelson, and generosity of Blandford in Marmontel do not dilate [the reader's] breast, and elevate his sentiments as much as any similar incident which real history can furnish? Does he not in fact feel himself a better man while reading them, and privately covenant to copy the fair example?"

Elevation is part of the family of self-transcending emotions. Other self-transcending emotions include:

* Awe: That sense of vastness of the universe that is often invoked by nature, art or music.

* Admiration: That goose-bump-making thrill that comes from seeing exceptional skill in action.

* Gratitude: That feeling of well-being that comes from the sense that we live in a world of bounty and generosity.

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An article published in the New York Times in November of 2008 explains that happy people don't spend a lot of time watching television. The study was trying to identify what activities happy people engage in and they discovered an inverse relationship between hours of television watched and happiness. Even though researchers could not tell whether unhappy people watch more television or whether being glued to the TV set is what makes people unhappy, it's safe to conclude that watching television is not conducive to happiness.

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Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University developed another tool for sizing up happiness: the Day-Reconstruction Method. Participants fill out a long diary and questionnaire detailing everything they do on a particular day and whom they were with at the time. The next day, consulting the diary, they relive each activity and, using 12 scales, rate how they felt at the time, whether happy, impatient, depressed, worried, tired, and so on.

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Hungarian-born psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has devoted his life's work to the study of what makes people truly happy, satisfied and fulfilled, and is best known for exploring the state of mind called flow, the feeling of complete engagement in a creative or playful activity familiar to athletes, musicians, video-game enthusiasts, and almost anyone who loses themselves in a favorite pursuit.

Dr. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost." The flow state is one of the most enjoyable and valuable experiences a person can have, and achieving the flow state on a consistent basis has been found to be one of the best ways to attain happiness.

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In an experiment called "The Nun Study"-which consisted of studying 678 nuns in different convents throughout the United States -- Dr. David A. Snowdon, an epidemiologist at the University of Kentucky, and colleagues came up with several theories on aging.

Among these was the finding that nuns who expressed more positive emotions in their autobiographies lived significantly longer -- in some cases 10 years longer -- than those expressing fewer positive emotions.

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At the University of California at Davis, psychologist Robert Emmons found that gratitude exercises improve physical health, raise energy levels, can relieve pain and fatigue, and increase happiness levels. You can read more about this in my article, "How Gratitude Can Change Your Life" over at "The Change Blog".

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Q. AS THE AUTHOR OF A BEST SELLER ABOUT HAPPINESS, DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE ON HOW PEOPLE CAN ACHIEVE IT?

A. I'm not Dr. Phil.

We know that the best predictor of human happiness is human relationships and the amount of time that people spend with family and friends.

We know that it's significantly more important than money and somewhat more important than health. That's what the data shows. The interesting thing is that people will sacrifice social relationships to get other things that won't make them as happy - money. That's what I mean when I say people should do "wise shopping" for happiness.

Another thing we know from studies is that people tend to take more pleasure in experiences than in things. So if you have "x" amount of dollars to spend on a vacation or a good meal or movies, it will get you more happiness than a durable good or an object. One reason for this is that experiences tend to be shared with other people and objects usually aren't. (Source).

Dan Gilbert explains that the difference between making $5,000.00 a year and $50,000.00 a year is dramatic. However, the difference between making $50,000.00 and $500,000.00--a much larger jump--is not nearly as big. Once your basic needs are met, more money stops making you much more happy.

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Tal Ben-Shahar teaches a course at Harvard on "Positive Psychology" which began as a six-student seminar and expanded over the subsequent few years to over 1400 students - making it, at its height, the university's most popular offering. He is author of the book, Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. Some of his tips on creating happiness include:

• Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning.


• Happiness is mostly dependent on our state of mind, not on our status or the state of our bank account.


• Barring extreme circumstances, our level of well being is determined by what we choose to focus on and by our interpretation of external events.


• Remember the mind-body connection. What we do -- or don't do -- with our bodies influences our mind. Regular exercise, adequate sleep, and healthy eating habits lead to both physical and mental health.


• Simplify.


• Express gratitude.

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These are 12 happiness enhancing strategies that can be found in the book "The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want":

(1) Counting your blessings: Expressing gratitude for what you have (either privately - through contemplation or journaling - or to a close other) or conveying your appreciation to one or more individuals whom you've never properly thanked. (CHAP 4)

(2) Cultivating optimism: Keeping a journal in which you imagine and write about the best possible future for yourself, or practicing to look at the bright side of every situation. (CHAP 4)

(3) Avoiding overthinking and social comparison: Using strategies (such as distraction) to cut down on how often you dwell on your problems and compare yourself to others. (CHAP 4)

(4) Practicing acts of kindness: Doing good things for others, whether friends or strangers, either directly or anonymously, either spontaneously or planned. (CHAP 5)

(5) Nurturing Relationships: Picking a relationship in need of strengthening, and investing time and energy in healing, cultivating, affirming, and enjoying it. (CHAP 5)

(6) Doing more activities that truly engage you: Increasing the number of experiences at home and work in which you "lose" yourself, which are challenging and absorbing. (CHAP 7)

(7) Replaying and savoring life's joys: Paying close attention, taking delight, and going over life's momentary pleasures and wonders - through thinking, writing, drawing, or sharing with another. (CHAP 7)

(8) Committing to your goals: Picking one, two, or three significant goals that are meaningful to you and devoting time and effort to pursuing them. (CHAP 8)

(9) Developing strategies for coping: Practicing ways to endure or surmount a recent stress, hardship, or trauma. (CHAP 6)

(10) Learning to forgive: Keeping a journal or writing a letter in which you work on letting go of anger and resentment towards one or more individuals who have hurt or wronged you. (CHAP 6)

(11) Practicing religion and spirituality: Becoming more involved in your church, temple, or mosque, or reading and pondering spiritually-themed books. (CHAP 9)

(12) Taking care of your body: Engaging in physical activity, meditating, and smiling and laughing. (CHAP 9)

New research shows that happiness is indeed contagious. Professors Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler from the University of California in San Diego have carried out research on the impact of social networks on happiness. In a study published today in the British Medical Journal they found that happiness really is contagious, and that it doesn't really matter how many friends you have, but how happy they are and how close to you they live.

In addition, the researchers found that the merriment of one person can ripple out and cause happiness in people up to three degrees away: that is, if you're happy, you increase the chance of joy in your close friend by 25%; a friend of that friend enjoys a 10% increased chance. And that friend's friend has a 5.6% higher chance. So your level of happiness can affect the level of happiness of people you don't even know. Here are several news sites that reported on this study:

• How Happiness Can Be Catching


• Laugh and the World Laughs With You: How Happiness Spreads


• Strangers May Cheer You Up


• Your Happiness Could Be Contagious

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