Happiness as a Skill That Can Be Developed
This article is a reaction to the 2011 documentary film Happy,
which is based on Positive Psychology.
This film is allegedly about 'the science of happiness', and is not
supposed to motivate you from the 'think of everyone who has it worse
and is still happy' angle - it is supposed to motivate you from the
scientific angle - you can increase your happiness by doing some
exercises, by applying yourself.
However, I think most people looking at this movie, seeing many
groups of happy people, living happy lives, and individuals who have
overcome hardships and tragedies are most likely to get the message
'if they can do it, everyone else should be able to.'
Is this movie saying that depressed people have in a sense brought
their own unhappiness upon themselves? They don't seem to say that
some people might remain unhappy, despite their best efforts.
I am concerned not only that most people might be likely to think the
movie's message is that other people have it worse, so stop
complaining, but also that people might think it is possible to just
snap out of unhappiness. Many of the exercises and ideas mentioned
do require that a person not be starting from a place where they
are suffering from severe depression.
What I agree with is that the mental health professions often seem to
see a person as a list of symptoms rather than as an individual, and
so treatment is about diminishing symptoms rather than aiming at what
would help a person to flourish as a whole.
In the film, it is stated that approximately 50% of human happiness
is genetically determined, about 10% depends on social status, income
and health, and that we can be creative with the other 40%. Happiness
is a skill that can be developed. While I am not too sure about the
numbers and how they arrived at them, it is worth examining the ideas
about what people can do to feel 'happier'.
How to develop the skill of happiness:
1) consciously vary your routine
2) get exercise, especially aerobic exercise, in order to keep the dopamine connections
3) get 'into the zone' - what this means is find something you do well, something you do just for itself, not money or any outside reward.
4) don't assume that good events will provide lasting happiness, or that bad ones will be devastating longterm.
5) happy people show an appropriate response to adversity, but return to baseline quickly.
6) having basic needs met increases happiness, but beyond a certain amount, money does not seem to make people increasingly happier
7) all happy people have close friends and family.
8) they have compatible extrinsic and intrinsic goals: happy people are happier with things like the stuff they have, their appearance and their status, as well as feeling that they are happy with their personal development, close relationships and sense of community (or ability to help others)
9) a sense that they are part of something larger than themselves: religion, a community, environmental, political or social change, etc. Even if a person is not religious, a sense of compassion can provide a feeling of connectedness to people, life and the universe
10) meditation, counting your blessings.. these type of activities can contribute to happiness
11) performing acts of kindness or cooperating with others
I had come to many of these conclusions myself regarding happiness.
Living a fulfilling life is about ties to life, networking, working
on the mental, emotional and physical connections. But for some
people, these activities come naturally. They don't have to think
about them. They don't have to face enormous obstacles just to try to
achieve these things. Their efforts produce worthwhile rewards.
The obvious comment is: any person who spends a lot of time trying to
argue in favour of unhappiness will of course enact a self-fulfilling
prophecy. I don't dismiss that idea. However, I think if you are
going to argue the self-fulfilling prophecy angle, you have to at
least be open to the possibility that even when a person does
everything 'right' (or more 'right' than most people), they still
don't get the 'happy' results that others do.
->exile on meme st: a diary
->xesce.net
