Keeping the Happy in Happy New Year

As we move into a new year, many of us reflect on our lives and make plans to do some things differently. Often, the aim of such plans is to improve our life satisfaction and happiness. The desire to find increased happiness in our lives is reflected in the volume of information on this topic: a google search for tips for happiness generates 117,000,000 results!

What is this thing called happiness? Wikipedia defines happiness as a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. While it's not reasonable to expect that we can be happy all the time (it's normal to experience a range of emotions), we can make personal changes that can potentially improve our level of happiness.

So, what can help us to be happy? To find some answers, we can turn to the field of Positive Psychology, which started in 2005 with the goal of examining what makes us happy. One of the founders of Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman, developed the Authentic Happiness Theory. This theory identified the following three elements of happiness (Seligman, 2011):

• Positive emotion: what we feel (i.e. pleasure, rapture, ecstasy, warmth, comfort, etc.). Seligman calls life led successfully around this element "the pleasant life."
• Engagement: this is what Positive Psychology refers to as 'flow' or being one with what you're doing. Flow is described as being one with the music, time stopping, and the loss of self-consciousness during an absorbing activity. Seligman refers to a life lived with these aims as the "engaged life."
• Meaning: while the first two elements are typically done alone, this element focuses on belonging to and serving something bigger than the self. Seligman refers to this as the "meaningful life."

Over the years, Seligman has refined his theory and now focuses on the construct of well being rather than the single element of happiness. His new Well Being Theory retains the original three elements of the Authentic Happiness Theory and has added two new elements:

• Accomplishments: Seligman has identified the pursuit of accomplishments or achievements for their own sake as an element of wellbeing. In this case, accomplishments are not all about winning, even though it might be pleasurable. The focus is on accomplishment for the sake of accomplishment. Seligman refers to this as the "achieving life."
• Positive Relationships: research has long supported the role of social support in our well being so the incorporation of relationships and connections with others into a theory of well being makes sense.

So, if these five elements help to create a greater sense of well being and in turn happiness, what can we do create more of this in our lives? One of those 117 million websites mentioned above has done a review of the recent literature and identified the following seven factors that appear to be related to happiness (Secrets of Happiness -The 7 Habits of Happy People at www.pursuit-of-happiness.org):

• Relationships: the research suggests that people who have one or more close friendships appear to be happier. We're not talking about 300 superficial Facebook friends here. It's the quality of the friendships, even if it just one, that is more important than the quantity.
• Caring: caring for others, either in an organized volunteer role or informally, on a consistent basis appears to contribute to happiness and reductions in depression.
• Exercise: Regular exercise is associated with improved mental well-being and a lower incidence of depression.
• Flow: Having an interest or activity in our life that takes us into 'flow' is linked to increased happiness. As noted previously, flow is described as the loss of self-consciousness when completely absorbed in an activity. If you have ever been totally immersed in doing something and lost track of time, you've experienced 'flow'.
• Spiritual engagement and meaning: Studies demonstrate a close link between spiritual and religious practice and happiness. Research has identified social support from religious communities, the meditative act of prayer, and the perspective, hope and deeper sense of meaning that both spirituality and organized religion provide as contributors to increased happiness.
• Strengths and virtue: the work of positive psychologists like Martin Seligman appears to show that the happiest people are those that have discovered their unique strengths (such as persistence and critical thinking) and virtues (such as humanity or justice) and use those strengths and virtues for a purpose that is greater than their own personal goals.
• Positive thinking: optimism and gratitude: Having an optimistic approach to life appears to have a positive impact on physical and psychological well being. Gratitude, the state or feeling of being thankful, appears to increase happiness and decrease stress and depression.

More detailed information about these factors and how they contribute to happiness can be found here.

Given the above, the university setting provides an excellent opportunity to engage in several of the activities that appear to be related to happiness. Links to the related services available on campus are provided below:

• Relationships: With over 30,000 other students on campus, there is tons of potential for relationships. Meeting people in classes, labs, clubs, or recreational activities provides many opportunities for friendship and intimate relationships.
• Caring: The university campus and the city of Calgary provide numerous options for volunteering and caring for others.
• Exercise: As a UofC student, you have access to the campus recreation facilities to exercise. If you don't like the gym or playing sports, a walk around the campus or a climb up the stairs to class also provides exercise options.
• Flow: Attending university provides an opportunity to get into subject areas and activities that fit with your skills, interests and values. If you haven't figured that out for yourself, there are services available through the Counselling Centre (in the Wellness Centre) and the Student Success Centre to help you discover what it is that you feel passionate about.
• Spiritual engagement and meaning: Looking for spirituality? Try the Faith and Spirituality Centre right here on campus. There are eleven Chaplains from a variety of faith/religious traditions. They offer spiritual and faith based programs, events and support to students of all faiths including students with no-faith alignment.
• Positive Thinking: There's always an option to be optimistic and show gratitude. If you're a glass half empty person, try to balance your perspective by looking for the positives in a situation. Not feeling that you're overflowing with gratitude? Try to identify three things you are grateful for every day for a week. If that feels like too much work, you can start by saying thank you the next time somebody holds the door open for you or gives you your change.

If 2012 is the year that you're hoping to increase your sense of well being and happiness, consider incorporating some of the suggestions provided above into your life.

References

Seligman, Martin. (2011). Flourish. New York, NY: Free Press.

The Pursuit of Happiness 7 Habits of Happy People. (n.d.) Retrieved December 15, 2011. Http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/science-of-happiness/?gclid=COWwjuaptK0CFcYRNAodmkrOmg.

Written by:  Jan Crook, MEd, RPsych   2012