Previous: Artificial Happiness
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| True Happiness |
We've learned about the popular misconception of happiness on the previous article.
So now, I introduced you to the true meaning of happiness based on the research conducted by the psychologists & social scientists worldwide.
For people continually trapped in consumerism and materialism, true happiness will forever be an unattainable goal. For what creates lasting happiness has a lot to do with a sense of purpose and meaning in life.
In his book, Authentic Happiness, psychologist Martin Seligman says that engagement (involvement with family, work, hobbies) and meaning (using personal strength to serve some larger end) are more significant factor to happiness than the pursuit of pleasure.
Study after study shows that true happiness is not founded on what is normally considered marks of prestige or pleasure. Money (and all that money can buy) does not contribute to lasting happiness. Neither does a good education or youth.
Resilience, however, can pave the way to happiness. "Happy people are hugely resilient on the whole", says Dan Baker, PhD, a medical psychologist in Arizona, who has written a book titled, What Happy People Know.
That could be why older people (who have probably developed more resilience), seem on the whole to be more satisfied with life than young people are.
Research shows that mild to moderate doses of negative experience are beneficial to growth and development. Studies have shown that animals that were moderately stressed when young fared better as adults in recovering from stress. Difficult situations have made them more resilient by giving them opportunities to practise bouncing back from traumatic events.
Studies of people who are undergone life- altering trauma reveal a similiar resiliency. Those who lose their limbs to devastating accidents tend to bounce bank in due time. One study found that those who were injured in accidents felt severely angry and victimized after the first week. However, after 8 weeks, most revealed that happiness was their strongest emotion- a situation that demonstrate how adaptable the human mind can be.
Ronnie Janoff- Bulman, PhD, a psychologist at the university of Massachusetts, conducted a study comparing the well- being of lottery winners versus person who had become suddenly paralysed. She found that following the initial euphoria of their newfound wealth, the lottery winners were no happier than the accident victims.
The paralysed individual had to adjust to the shock of their new physical limitation, but after this distress had eased, they were much better able to appreciate the small pleasures and victories of life than those who were overnight millionaires and they felt more optimistic about the future.
Such studies prove that happiness is not necessarily tied to circumstance, but to the 'interpretation' we give to that circumstance.
As Baker says, "One thing happy people know is that they don't get to be happy all the time. They can appreciate the moments. little victories, the small miracles and the relationships with one another".
And as Forbes.com article says, "Part of the meaning of life is to have high and lows. A life that was constantly happy was not good life."
Studies also show that those who are spiritually and communally involved tend to be experience more frequently positive emotions and an overall sense of satisfaction with life. What accentuates this satisfaction is the sense of purpose and larger context that religions belief provide.
American billionaire CEO, Thomas Monaghan founder of Domino's Pizza, traded materialism for true happiness when he made his religious faith the centre of his life. Monaghan sold Domino's Pizza for US$ 1 billion in 1998 and now focused on philanthropy and his faith.
| Domino's |
In a rare interview with USA Today,he revealed that he went through an unfulfilling materialistic phase when he became rich. He bought 'antique' cars, yachts and The Detroit Tigers baseball team'.
When asked which part of his life has been more enjoyable: getting rich or giving it away, he replied: "I enjoyed Domino's, but don't miss it at all. This is much more fulfilling. I had to get rich to see being rich is not important. I always believed that intellectually. I had to experience it. I was brought up poor and I was embarrassed of my threadbare clothes and hole in my shoes.I had to get that out from my system".
GETTING RICH MIGHT BE ENJOYABLE BUT GIVING IT AWAY IS FULFILLING.
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| Credit: The Happiness Factor CAP Guide 2006 |
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