The Science of Jubilance

By Vijaya Manicavasagar

What is happiness?
The term happiness captures a huge variety of positive emotional responses, including such things as cheerfulness, calmness, feelings of hope, and joy. Throughout history, (people who think a lot about how people think), religious writers and poets have thought carefully about on the meaning of happiness and how it might be (accomplished or gained with effort). More recently, scientists, mind doctors and even politicians, have joined the pursuit.

Psy downloadchologists have found it useful to tell the difference between a (related to feeling pleasure) and a eudemonic state. A (related to feeling pleasure) state is a short-lived state of pleasure, while a eudemonic state is one connected with (happening now) wellbeing, engagement and satisfaction and happiness. Eudemonia is based on Aristotle's idea/plan of the 'good life'.

(expert at how groups of people relate to each other) Corey Keyes argues that wellbeing is more than just the (not being there; not being present) of (constant/not going away) negative emotions. His idea of 'flourishers' describes people who possess life happiness (from meeting a need or reaching a goal) and/or positive mood plus at least 6 eudemonic qualities including:

- Making a (thing that's given/work that's done) to (community of people/all good people in the world)
- Being socially combined (with other things)
- Expanding in terms of social groups
- Being accepting of others
- Experiencing self-acceptance
- Demonstrating (related to surrounding conditions or the health of the Earth) mastery
- Having positive relationships with others
- Having independence
- Demonstrating personal growth
- Having purpose in life.

Happiness and (change for the better, over time)
Barbara Fredrickson from the University of Michigan claims that positive emotions have a grand purpose in (change for the better, over time). Positive emotional mind sets widen our range of thoughts and actions, helping the development of play, exploring things and creativity. We become open to new ideas and new experiences. These states then help us create lasting personal useful things/valuable supplies, such as social connections and knowledge. We can draw on those useful things/valuable supplies during trying times.

Happiness and the brain
Brain doctor Richard Davidson measured electrical activity in the prefrontal cortex area of the brain. He found that the left side is the activated when people are feeling happy and that the balance of activity between right and left moves as mood changes. He studied the brain activity of Tibetan monks whose deep thinking training resulted in very high activity on the left side. In fact, Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk and translator to the Dalai Lama, has been dubbed 'the happiest man in the world'. The activity in his left prefrontal cortex was the highest ever measured.
It's not just highly trained Buddhist monks who benefit from deep thinking. Davidson gave deep thinking therapy to a group of highly stressed unhappy workers with a high level of right brain activity. Deep thinking increased activity in their left prefrontal cortex, the workers felt happier and they reported renewed excited interest (in something). Ways of doing things such as deep thinking, relaxation, yoga and careful awareness therapy can boost activity in the left side of your prefrontal cortex leading to increased wellbeing.

Happiness and our (tiny chemical assembly instructions inside of living things)
David Lykken, from the University of Minnesota, studied the role of (tiny chemical assembly instructions inside of living things) in deciding/figuring out happiness (from meeting a need or reaching a goal) in life. He gathered information on 4000 sets of twins and found that about 50% of one's happiness (from meeting a need or reaching a goal) with life comes from a (related to tiny chemical assembly instructions inside of living things) strong need. Brain doctors have learned that the brain is highly plastic. It rewires and changes itself in response to experience. A (related to tiny chemical assembly instructions inside of living things) strong need does not mean a particular feature is always expressed or can't be changed.

Memories and happiness
Daniel Kahneman, from Princeton University, studies what makes experiences pleasant or unpleasant. When thinking about happiness, he says that it is important to recognise that life is a long series of moments. In any of those moments there is a lot going on and you could stop and ask, what is happening right now? We all have mental, physical and emotional activity at each of those points in time. However, almost all of those moments are lost to us forever. We keep memories very (in a picky way where only certain things are selected) and certain moments count more than others. We tend to hold onto beginnings, the peak moments and the endings. For example, a parent might remember with great pleasure the day their child scored their first goal at sport. They'll have forgotten the early start, the driving back and forth and the boring evening.

Happiness and life facts or conditions (that surround someone) download (7)
In David Lykken's twin studies he found that life facts or conditions (that surround someone) such as (whether someone is single, married, divorced, etc.), education, religion and income count for just 8% of life happiness (from meeting a need or reaching a goal). That is agreeing with/matching up with the studies that show very little connection between income and happiness levels. Interestingly, high education or IQ levels are not connected with greater happiness. Older people are regularly (all the time) more made happy (by meeting a need or reaching a goal) with their lives than the young. Married people are happier but that could be because they were happier people to begin with. Religion has a positive effect on wellbeing. (in the end), it's family and friends that are the most important. We need these between-people ties and social support to be happy.

Health and happiness
Many studies have shown that eudemonic (not state) happiness is related to longer life and superior health. In one study, involving 1,300 men over 10 years, Laura Kubzansky found that positive-thinking people had half the rate of heart disease. Other research has shown that happy people are better at health maintenance, such as spending more time exercising and having (something commonly done) check ups.

Money doesn't make you happy
Research has shown that there is no significant relationship between how much money a person makes and how happy they are. For example, Ed Diener, a mind doctor at the University of Illinois, interviewed members of the Forbes 400, (the richest Americans), and found that they were only a tiny bit happier than the rest of people/of the group. Kasser & Ryan discovered that people for whom money, success, fame and good looks are especially important are less made happy (by meeting a need or reaching a goal) than those who work hard for good relationships with others, develop their talents and are active in social causes.

Keeping up with the Joneses
It seems we are driven to compare ourselves with others, and now that we have access to pay TV and the internet, it has never been easier to see how the very rich live. Instead of asking 'do the things I own meet my needs', we become nervous/eager about how we are doing relative to others.

The (related to feeling pleasure) treadmill
(people who work to find information) Brickman and Campbell studied a process called helpful change. They found that when we want something and then reach it, we don't seem to be any better off. They called this the (related to feeling pleasure) treadmill. It's like we are walking on a treadmill but not really getting anywhere because we are changing to fit things. They studied lottery winners and found that one year later, life happiness (from meeting a need or reaching a goal) was not significantly greater for the winners. This process of adaption explains why we are not significantly happier despite big increases in the standard of living over the last 50 years.

The slow movement
The book 'In praise of Slow' by Carl Honore is something of a handbook for a newly-visible 'slow movement'. The 'slow movement' is a strong negative reaction against the idea that that faster is always better. The idea is that by slowing down we can enjoy richer, fuller lives. It's not about rejecting modern life, but rather striking a balance between fast and slow. That might mean making time for a hobby that slows you down or leaving some gaps in your day rather than trying to fill every moment with activity. Setting aside time where you turn off all technology or searching for flexible working arrangements may also help you find balance. Some people make even more big changes such as changing careers or locations. An Australian study by Hamilton and Mail found that over 90% of people who have made those big changes are happy with their decision to downsize their lives.

Community happiness
In Western countries, as GDP has gone up, happiness levels have either stayed the same or have decreased. Are we ready for a new approach? A BBC poll has asked 'should the government's first (or most important) goal be the greatest happiness or the greatest wealth?;' 81% of people chose the greatest happiness. In the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan they are doing just that, measuring happiness levels in the population since 1972. They use their Gross National Happiness (GNH) level as a basis for making policy decisions. For example, they restrict tourism in order to keep their culture and they blocked/forbidden smoking in 2004 in order to (help increase/show in a good way) national wellbeing.