Happiness and Its types

Happiness and Its level

Happiness may not seem like an easy idea after you realize that this single word has various concepts, such as contentment that brings peace, and joy that fills a person with ecstasy.

Our concept of happiness determines the way we seek it, and not all forms of happiness are created equal; In fact, some forms of happiness are not good for us; Some paths to happiness lead us to deep satisfaction, while others affect us temporarily, and this is followed by a craving for more happiness.

For our ancestors, the path to a happy life was guided by stories and sages who taught them the right way to live a happy life. Today, however, modern science has dealt differently with happiness. The starting point for living a happy life is to understand how we define our sense of safety.

Discover happiness

One very common way that psychologists think we evaluate our reality is through the so-called peak-end rule; For according to this theory, we judge any given experience by what we felt at the climax and at the end of the experience; This is because we tend not to care about the total sum of our feelings during an experience, or how they might be on average.

Instead, we focus only on the highlights, such as the best parts, worst parts, and last parts; The moments that leave a strong impression on our experience tell us whether the experience was good or bad, and in what way it was good or bad.

Nobel laureate Dr. Daniel Kahneman, a researcher and professor of psychology at Princeton University, helped formulate the peak end rule in 1999; And that is through studies that have proven the validity of this rule; But that's just part of the story.

hidden happiness

In a subsequent observational study by Kahneman and his team, a group of 800 women were asked why they felt happiness related to their daily activities, as well as a specific aspect of happiness: their life satisfaction.The time they spend with their children has been described as among the least enjoyable activities, but there is a contradiction in that; When Kahneman analyzed the data, he found that despite the frustrations associated with raising children, mothers reported a higher level of life satisfaction than childless women.

Why did the peak end rule have little effect? According to Dr. Talya Miron-Shatz, a psychologist who worked alongside Kahneman, there are two limits to this rule; The first limitation is that the end has an effect only on experiences that have a distinct end, and the other limitation is that the rule applies to only one level of happiness.“Life satisfaction is a higher concept than the happiness we experience on a daily basis, ” said Myron Schatz. “ When it comes to evaluating life satisfaction, you think about the big picture— your career , home, marriage, family, etc. It is more than just selection list".

Life is based on two levels of happiness

When classifying these two levels of happiness, psychologists draw inspiration from the ideas of ancient Greece; On the everyday level it is called Hedonic Happiness, and on the big picture level it is called Eudaimonic Happiness.Pleasure happiness (from the Greek "hedone" meaning "pleasure") refers to the feelings we get from material comforts; That is, the excitement that comes with buying new shoes or eating a delicious dessert, the fun is all that makes one feel satisfied at the moment.

On the other hand, good happiness satisfies our need for meaning and purpose, and Aristotle was the first to describe the pursuit of good, virtuous happiness, which literally translates to compatibility with good divine beings; Subsequent philosophers have promoted this idea as the ultimate goal of life.There are many ways to achieve good happiness, and it is okay to enjoy some moments of pleasure (provided that they are not immoral or excessive); Both levels can give us joy; But the main point is that we can never replace one level with another.

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“If I crave chocolate for happiness, it won’t give me the fulfillment I need on a happiness level,” said Myron Schatz.

This does not stop us from trying; Indeed, we live in a world where we are constantly encouraged by such futility, and the reality is that promotions for goods push us to buy, not just to buy a product, but to buy a sense of transcendence and self-empowerment that no commodity can provide.

Pleasure adaptation:

Given the amount and intensity of pleasure experiences available to us, life was never better than it is now; We can easily access a variety of pleasures that even the greatest kings of the past could not have. The question here is: Why are we not the happiest culture in history? The feeling of malaise, anxiety and depression in the modern era is not only related to a lack of good happiness; We have also weakened our pleasures.

Psychologists call this "pleasure adjustment"; This term describes the pleasure you initially get from an object or activity, which diminishes over time. Eventually, we adapt so that the happy stimulus we've been relying on doesn't give us the thrill, and it's as if you're on a treadmill, running after a feeling you'll never reach.

Drug addicts call this dynamic a dragon chase, but whether it's drugs, candy, or something else addictive, we rely on it to give us a sense of well-being, the principle is the same.

This applies not only to vices; For example, let's say you get a better-paying job, a bigger house, or a luxury car. These upgrades may make you happy for a while, but after that, it becomes the new normal, and you no longer feel satisfied with these things; That's because our cognition is geared toward accommodating changes. Remember that we remember the extreme moments; So the positives that permeate our lives will eventually become things we take for granted"

Transcendental demands:

However, there are peaks to which we can strive, which show that we can trust to obtain lasting pleasures from them. In a study designed by Myron Schatz, she asked a group of Ohio women to report on the best observed points of their day. When her team analyzed all the peaks people have in common, religious activity, prayer and hobbies came to the fore; "I think it's because these things elevate you, they take you beyond everyday life, and then the other thing these things have in common is that they are volitional," she said.

Feelings of freedom rank high in happiness research, which is probably why something so restrictive, like mobility, ranks so low; In one of Kahneman's studies, daily commuting was one of the activities that people reported they hated the most.

Negative urgency:

Another thing that researchers found when discovering the happiness equation is that negative experiences have a greater impact on our evaluation of our experience than good experiences. This pattern was explored in a 2001 article, Bad is Stronger than Good , in the Review of General Psychology, written by Case Western Reserve University psychology professors.

This doesn’t means that bad will always triumphs over good, and brings doom and misery to the human race; rather, that good may prevail over evil through the power of numbers, many good events can overcome the psychological effects of one bad event. But when there are measures Equally good and evil, the psychological effects of bad effects outweigh those of good effects.

Some psychologists interpret this phenomenon as a survival mechanism; It is good to feel content; But our feelings are affected more by bad moments, so that we pay attention and avoid this pain in the future.

This phenomenon can also be linked to a tendency towards negative thinking rather than positive thinking, and this behavior may be stronger during times of severe anxiety, depression and conflict. However, whatever the cause, there are things we can do to turn the happiness equation in our favour.

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Shift towards happiness

The important thing is to feel gratitude. Learning to count your blessings can actually help see a brighter day , says Myron Schatz, who now heads Buddy & Soul, an online platform for personal development . So even when you're experiencing something bad, seeing all the good things in your life can soothe the bitterness of how you're feeling.

But don't just turn to gratitude when you're in trying times; It is through practice that we can learn to strengthen our awareness permanently. “Through gratitude notes , we prepare ourselves to look for things we are grateful for, rather than looking for things we will complain about,” Schatz said.

Another way that research has shown that we can ease the burdens that lead to unhappiness is through financial security. At first glance this may seem to contradict the old adage that “money cannot buy happiness,” but bear in mind that this metaphor is in fact related to the insatiable nature of pleasure purchases; The real power of wealth is that it helps you avoid stress and tough times that can affect your mood.

It's fine to buy yourself a little something when you're feeling low, but if you have little money, you need to limit luxuries and fancy, unnecessary purchases in favor of more practical endeavours. Being able to pay your bills without getting into debt will make you happier in the long run, or at least less miserable.

The third powerful tool for making life happier is learning how to better explain events as they happen. For example: If you feel like your day has been spoiled just because the waiter at the restaurant messed up your order, find out how you came to that conclusion. It was probably an unintentional mistake, not a personal attack as you might first imagine.

This can also help explain negative events in a broader context; For example: something that seems terrible now, like a difficult project at work, may become a source of pride in the future, or an embarrassing incident now may seem ridiculous if we reconsider the way we think a year later. This tool is not intended to change reality; It's just paraphrasing it, looking at your problem from another angle.

“Ask yourself: Can I look at it differently? It would help if you did,” said Myron Schatz. “You don’t have to smooth it out, but the way you see things around you — and if you can get away with it — can make a big difference.”

Finally and above all, do not neglect good happiness; Our quest for meaning, belonging, and doing the right thing may not provide the quick fix and cheap excitement of our pleasurable pursuits; It is the attainment of the highest level that makes our spirit truly transcend.