by Jengy Pie

Created on: December 11, 2008   Last Updated: January 13, 2009

Happiness is a state of mind. It is not materialistic, it is not synonymous with 'fun' nor is there a universal definition of what needs to occur or be attained to be happy. You see... happiness is individual; what one person requires to be happy will differ from another person. However, several underlying principles provide the greatest hope to unlocking the secret to happiness.

Value what you have. Physical health, friendships, relationships, a roof over your head and many other staples of life often get taken for granted. It is these very basics that form the groundwork to building happiness, and an appreciation of them goes a long way when appraising whether one is happy with life. In fact, studies show that once people have the basics any amount of extra money or possessions confers only slightly higher levels of content with life. One key factor that studies demonstrate is that unemployed people are much less happier than the employed, presumably because a job gives a person a sense of identity, purpose and meaning to their life. Losing value in what you have and the greedy pursuit for more often leads to disappointment and unhappiness. This is not to discourage goal-setting, which provides direction in our lives, but placing great emphasis on the dangerous equations money=happiness or possessions=happiness creates a great risk of future discontent.

Psychological factors cannot be underestimated. One of the great secrets to happiness is mastery of your environment; being in control if key to happiness. We all have a cognitive schema in our mind that predicts likely future events. When reality differs from this expectation, unhappiness results. For example, a student who puts in a lot of hard study for his or her exams will expect to do well, but if they do poorly then they feel cheated and unhappy. The more often reality meets our expectations the more we feel in control, and the happier we are. Another psychological influence is how we process the information from our environment. You see... it is not the situations and experiences themselves that make us unhappy but the way we interpret them that can lead to discontent. Two people can experience the same trauma and have completely different psychological reactions. For example, student #1 may feel like life's unfair and 'what's the point' after under-performing on their exams, and may consequently not try as hard next time leading to repeated cycles of unhappiness. However, another student, student #2, who also under-performs may think 'it just wasn't my time, but I gave it my best shot' and will use the initial disappointment as motivation to do well on the next test. Student #1 is likely to be unhappy, whereas student #2's optimistic outlook driven by their gratification over their hard work will keep him in a positive frame of mind.

Overall happiness is a complex phenomenon involving not only past, current and expected future life situations, but also a significant degree of psychological interpretation. In essence, appreciating what you have, however basic it may be, and a positive psychological interpretation of yourself, your life and your future are the core secrets to a happy life.

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