Many times we think that happiness is something that simply happens or not; over which we have no control. The idea of happiness is usually connected with the situation in which we find ourselves, for example: “if such or such thing happens, I will be happy”.
However, happiness does not happen that way. There are investigations that indicate that only 10% of a person’s happiness depends on the external situation.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, in his exhaustive study of this matter, he has found that there are three big areas of human reality that predict happiness: genes, circumstances and deliberate activity.
Genes set the baseline or reference value of a person’s happiness, predicting up to 50 percent of a person’s happiness.
So, does this high number mean that our happiness is completely defined at birth? Well no, although the reference value will be the initial point from which we start, the manifestation or not of this potentiality will depend on the state of the following two areas to be described, the remaining 50 percent of our happiness is not It is determined at birth.
Although it may seem paradoxical, all the data indicates that vital circumstances such as socioeconomic status, experiencing problems or traumas, among others, only determine 10 percent of our happiness. So, after the influence of genetics and circumstances, what are we left with?
Where does our happiness come from?
Happiness depends on personality. Some people are naturally happy, as if they were born that way, it makes it easier to achieve happiness in your life.
There are those who have a tendency to negativity, bad mood, pessimism. They have learned that in their environment and that is how they live their lives without asking what they can do about it.
The decision to be happy or not depends on us. This means that we can all be happy.
Researchers have shown that more than half of happiness depends on things that are under our control.
What does it depend on?
Much depends on our attitude, the way we live our lives and the habits we have.
Benefits of happy people:
- They manage to be successful.
- They achieve their goals.
- They have better health.
- They live longer.
- They have better relationships.
- They learn more and better.
Some tips to put into practice and generate habits to have a happy life:
- Be aware of who you are. People who managed to meet each other live a happier life. Work on being authentic and getting to know yourself.
- Learn to set limits.
- Practice gratitude. You can see some of my challenges on my website to learn how to do it as a habit.
- Sorry. Change the perception of how you feel about a situation or person. Identify the anger or emotion that aroused, recognize the emotion and learn to manage it.
- Recognize that you have options. You cannot control events, but you can control how you perceive and respond to them.
- Rest. Sleep the necessary hours.
- Move on. Exercise, it is scientifically proven that exercising makes you happier.
- Keep your space tidy.
- Listen to happy music.
- Sunbath. Always protecting you.
- Surround yourself with positive people. Don’t get hooked on other people’s negativity.
- Celebrate your achievements.
For Aristotle, happiness is the end that every human being seeksgood is the greatest desire that guides all human actions.
How to achieve happiness according to Aristotle?
In his book Nicomachean Ethics, he identifies three ways of life that seek happiness:
- Guided by the pleasure found in the satisfaction of impulses.
- Political life, in which the individual seeks happiness through honors, great deeds and riches, as if being happy depended on the approval of the other.
- Contemplation, the highest form of life. Understanding that life is an end in itself. Nothing external is needed.
by Paula Cabalen
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