Find Your Happy

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Lee M-A, Kawachi I. The keys to happiness: Associations between personal values regarding core life domains and happiness in South Korea. PLoS ONE. 2019;14(1):e0209821. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209821 For instance, the pursuit of enduring happiness is at the core of many mindfulness practices, which often emphasize gratitude and seeking contentment in the present moment.

Kaiser writes - as the other authors - from her own experience and she builts a case that true happiness can only happen when we live true to our values. That starts with finding out what our values are, so without self knowledge happiness will remain out of our reach. Listen to your heart. You are the only one who knows what fills you up. Your family and friends may think you’d be great at something that really doesn’t float your boat. It can be complicated following your bliss. Just be smart, and keep your day job for the time being. Now that you hopefully have a better sense of what you’re searching for when thinking about your own happiness, as well as pitfalls to avoid, we encourage you to select one area for growth. Once you’ve chosen an area, follow the links to read more and commit to developing one new habit for happiness.Following on from point 1, the second downside to pinning happiness on external goals is that you may fall into unhelpful thinking habits. By placing your happiness onto something external, you may forget that feeling happy is something that comes from inside, and can be found by looking inward, rather than waiting for an external action to trigger it.

As for assessing happiness flowing from conceptualizations in mindfulness, many researchers have administered short scales that capture momentary changes in emotions via diary study. Finally, consider linking up with a friend or small group and commit to becoming happier together. In the same way that groups like AA and Weight Watchers can help their members develop better habits associated with health, you can work with others to stay accountable and get support if you face any hurdles in your pursuit of greater happiness.Scientists and practitioners have developed a range of useful exercises to help individuals discover their core values. You can learn more about these in several of our other articles: Interestingly, many traditional philosophers who championed the eudaimonic perspective denounced hedonic views of happiness, declaring them vulgar and overly self-centered. For instance, Aristotle considered hedonic happiness to make humans slavish followers of frivolous desires. Spiritual conceptualizations of happiness The former relies on participants’ memory and judgment about their overall lives, using items like, “I feel able to solve the majority of my daily problems.” In contrast, the latter assesses real-time affective states and feelings about the previous day, using items like, “I learned something interesting.” Pay attention to your energy levels. How do they rise and fall? How do you feel during and after an activity or escaping into a memory?