How Old Is Happiness?
Happiness, in its semantics, is an ambiguous and subjective term, as the reasons for this happiness differ greatly from person to person. However, if we really want to experience what it means to be happy and to feel fullness, perhaps we need to understand what happiness is.
Happiness is an electrifying and wonderful state that intoxicates us and fills us with deep inner satisfaction. A satisfaction that can come from meeting a wonderful person or having a dream home in the countryside.
It is said that there is no such state that can last a lifetime. Rather, there are fleeting states of happiness or joy, moments of balance characterized by calm and serenity.
Happiness
Happiness is a condition specific to human beings which has been widely studied in the branches of psychology, theology, and philosophy, but not only… Political scientists and economists are also very interested in it.
From the perspective of positive psychology, happiness is a state of well-being that comes with a fulfilling life that makes sense. Sonja Lyubomirsky, in her book The How of Happiness , talks about it as an experience of joy, satisfaction or well-being combined with the feeling that life is good, meaningful and precious.
Happiness is in a way a state of research. We are looking for what gives us pleasure, what gives us well-being. It is therefore a rather subjective term, because the definition will be different from one person to another.
Happiness and positive thoughts
Thinking positive thoughts is one way to make ourselves feel happier. The economist Benjamin Radcliff and the polotologist Amitava Krishna Dutt are interested in this subject which they discuss in their recent publication: Happiness: A Quick Immersion . These two men investigated whether money buys happiness.
Their theories are based on three fundamental pillars: the balance between our transient emotions, both positive – like joy – and negative – like anxiety – our cognitive judgments about life in the general sense in the long term and the possibility of find meaning in our life.
On the other hand, a recent study, conducted by psychology professor Clare Mehta, at Emmanuel College, analyzed the experiences of men and women aged between 30 and 40 for more than four years.
After analyzing the results, the age of 36 was identified as the happiest age. While many idealized young people by thinking of the absence of responsibilities and tedious tasks, others preferred the age at which life-marking events, such as marriage, the birth of children, the purchase of a house, divorce, a professional turn, etc.
Be happy on your way, don’t struggle
The idea that emerges from this study is the following: you have to take advantage of the road that leads to the goal. As the author of the study put it: “I realized that adults were happier, when they were already somewhat settled, but still struggling, and from 30 to 40 years old is a much more rewarding step than we think. ”
Participants felt more overwhelmed by the challenges they faced, but at the same time more satisfied. That is, anything that produced positive stress also brought them joy and greater happiness.
Professional career changes, challenges, goals achieved or not in the medium, short or long term, relationships and general skills to live the life of one’s dreams… It’s all part of pavie, and the participants ensured that they had more confidence in their possibilities.
Our thoughts There is a question that comes and goes in our minds. Were we happier without social media? Here we try to answer this question …
