In Pursuit of Happiness and Wellbeing
Everyone just wants to be happy, right? But is there a path to happiness and wellbeing?
The default reaction to unpleasant events is depression or anxiety. Traditional therapy tries to confront unpleasant events that occur and attempt to undo them, but does this help us move on? Perhaps a more useful approach is learning we have control over events and how we react to them.
Optimism tells us how well we can bounce back from defeats and disappointments. Optimistic people may be hit by an unpleasant event, but spend only a brief time feeling depressed before bouncing back. An unpleasant event is viewed as not long lasting, not affecting much of life, and is considered something that “just happens”. This
…show more content…
The scientific evidence suggests that happiness and wellbeing are not just the result of a fortunate spin not the genetic wheel. They are strongly influenced by outlook on life and how people manage its opportunities and challenges. A useful exercise is to identify individual strengths and values and then use them in all areas of life. And there are ways to live more meaningful lives, such as pursuing jobs and activities which create more day to day fulfilment.
I would never diagnose medical conditions, prescribe medicines or treatments, or provide any form of therapy. Through coaching I will support you in creating a vision of your best life. Together we identify your strengths and values and work through your biggest obstacles. You have all the answers. By concentrating on what’s going well in your life, regardless of any current health and wellness issues, you will start to imagine a better future and your confidence will
Optimism was an attractive to many because it answered a profound philosophical question: if God is omnipotent and benevolent, then why is there so much evil in the world? Optimism provides an easy way out: God has made everything for the best, and even though one might experience personal misfortune, God (via your misfortune) is still helping the greater good.
Taking the following questionnaire: Satisfaction with Life Scale, Approaches to Happiness Scale, and Authentic Happiness Inventory, helped me evaluate my life. Many times due to circumstance we forget in what positon our life is standing at the moment. We forget how much we have accomplished in the past and how much we have invested to make our future a good one. For the Satisfaction with life scale, I score a 33(love their life and feel that everything is going very well). People may might say well she is living a perfect life, but to be honest is not that is being perfect, is that one day years ago I made a decision of not letting anything take away what I have worked hard for. According to Earl & Carol Diener, because positive moods energize approach tendencies, it desirable that people on average be in a positive mood (1996). If I make a mistake, which is possible because am human, what I do is learn from it. It’s like what the Apostol from the church I go to says” you control life, not life controlling you.”
Utilizing a pie chart, she illustrates the crux of her research; 10% of our happiness is increased or decreased by our circumstances. 50% of our happiness is increased or decreased by genetic predisposition, 40% is within our ability to control. We have “opportunities to increase or decrease our happiness levels through what we do and how we think” (22). She provides 12 specific happiness enhancing activities. She implores us to commit time, resources and energy to this “intentional activity”. Promoting these changes in our lives to accommodate being happier, which will benefit everyone in the end.
The studies given as examples and discussion focuses on teenagers and young adults, but includes anyone is struggling to find happiness. Evidence to Support Thesis: Point 1: The level of well-being is emphasized as more people continue to lose track of what makes them happy. Shawn Anchor is reminding people to capture the essence of simple contentment and asking his audience to think about what they value. Anchor’s book provides seven principles that involve having an open mind to becoming happier. Anchor includes other research studies as evidence to his claims throughout the book.
Health psychology is a relatively new concept rapidly growing and could be defined as the biological and psychological influences affect ones behaviour also bringing in social influences of health and illness (MacDonald, 2013). Biological determinants consider genetic and biological factors of an illness whereas psychological determinants focus on the psychological factors such as why people behave the way they do when dealing with issues such as anxiety and stress. Models such as the Health Belief Model and Locus of Control were developed in attempt to try and explain psychological issues around a chronic illness such as breast cancer (Ogden, 2012). Sociological factors can cause an enormous amount of pressure for one to behave in a certain way for example gender roles in society and religious considerations when dealing with health beliefs. Health Beliefs can be defined as one’s own perception to their own personal health and illness and health behaviours (Ogden, 2012). There are also theories and models used to explain pain and coping with diagnosis such as Moos and Schaefer (1984) Crisis theory and Shontz (1975) cycle of grief people go through when being diagnosed with a serious illness.
B. Cade Massey once said, “It 's gotten to the point where people really feel pressure to think and talk in an optimistic way” (Massey). Optimism is generally seen as healthy, while pessimism is generally seen as dangerous. The difference between optimism and pessimism is a difference in perspective and mindset. An optimist has a positive perspective and cheerful mindset, while a pessimist has a negative perspective and a gloomy mindset. There are consequences to both perspectives. But which has better consequences for one’s health? Assuming that it is moderated, pessimism is healthy for a person’s well-being. Pessimism is more realistic than optimism because it prepares people for an unpredictable and possibly negative life. Pessimism is also better for expectations compared to future surprises. Pessimists are either proven right or pleasantly surprised. Pessimism is a healthier mindset to have than optimism.
...orking progress to reach a stage where one can focus on oneself and see the larger picture, as an adventure and experiences. The one secret to actually getting happiness has nothing to do with setting goals or achieving them. To obtain your definition of happiness, firstly, be more optimistic and have a positive outlook on all opportunities and not look for “happy moments,” because “happy moments” can last for so long. All in all, happiness equals appreciating each and every moment for whatever it has to offer, and to add personal values and purpose onto your life. This all might make happiness hard to achieve, but the up side is that happiness can be created in any situation. There are plenty of stories of people facing hardships in their life, but would still find happiness in their family, faith, and career, and the hardships just doesn’t seem too hard after all.
Achieving long-term personal happiness is possible with hard work and perseverance by using several methods. Understanding and following various steps to have fulfillment can change your life. By consistently following an assortment of important steps, you will develop a life pattern that is generally happy. Many people throughout history have attempted to find ways to become happier, and share the information with others. While there are occasionally things that should make a person unhappy, it is important to not allow unhappiness to become a lifelong pattern that destroys you mentally and physically. In addition, happy people tend to have more friends and success because they are fun to associate with.
Happiness is a feeling that humans naturally desire. Without it, one feels incomplete. In this generation, happiness has taken on a definition by how we are presented to one another. It is measured by how much money we have, how famous we are, or the things we possess. When in reality, none of these things guarantee a happy life. Happiness is something that cannot be bought with money, but rather, it must be found, earned, sought after. Each and every one of us has our own list of things that we consider to make us happy. However, happiness shines brightest through the relationships we create, and the goals we make for ourselves to strive after. Along with these two essential sources, we then can mix and match those things in life that we enjoy to create our own unique formula for happiness.
The basis of our study is the subjective well-being approach for our undergraduate thesis writing which shows that there is a weak relationship between subjective well-being and indicators of well-being such as income and consumption (Kahneman et al. 1999; Argyle 2002).
If you were to google the definition of happiness, it will give you an extremely shallow definition of the state of being happy. Happiness is an abstract and intangible emotion that cannot literally be defined. So how can one define it? People use their emotions, feelings, and events in their life to define happiness. Though, the emotions described by each individual will vary because each individual is their own person; therefore, not any one view of happiness will be the same.
Throughout my life, I have learned to see that happiness is not such an inaccessible dream. Although its notion varies from one person to another, happiness is often times only one inch away. Some people will experience happiness in the pursuit of it. Some will find it in sacrificing themselves for greater goals. Others will find it in people’s company, in lust or in drugs. There is no recipe for success or happiness, and it is only up to us to define what we want from life, and how we want to get it. The only certain thing is that it is never too late for anybody to achieve their dreams, to make peace with their feelings, and ultimately, to be happy.
These phycologists have wondered if there are more optimist or pessimists in the world. They have made an attempt to find out what approach is greater or better. There are some advantages to optimism because it makes people feel better about life, however, there are also some advantages to pessimism in that looking at the unfortunate side of things can help some pessimists cope better with the world. Both optimism and pessimism have important roles to play the lives of everybody. Being optimist permits people to go after their goals in a positive way, to dream bigger and better dreams, which they can strive to work towards. Optimist also tend to respond better to positive feedback, and a part of being an optimist may be producing this feedback for themselves, example, thinking positive thoughts. While on the other hand, being pessimistic may help people to better acknowledge negative feedback and reduce their natural anxiety to perform better. Once again, part of the reason why pessimist generates negative thoughts is that it helps them perform a lot better. People tend to utilize both optimism and pessimism in order for them gain out of their advantages. People who are mainly concerned with growth or advancement often manifest an optimistic view, whereas those who are concerned with safety and security, or avoiding negative outcomes, focus more on pessimism in order to improve their
I believe that happiness is the key to living a good and prosperous life. Through all of the sadness and hate in the world, happiness gives me hope. It gives not only me, but others hope and joy. Happiness gives us something to hold onto, therefore we cherish it as much as we can.
My health is of great importance to me. I firmly believe that having good health is imperative for a happy life. Having bad health can wreck havoc in one’s daily life. I know from personal experience because it has been happening to me these past few weeks. I’m thankfully, recovering as time passes, but I can contribute most of the misery I went through due to lack of sleep. I’ve only experienced these awful symptoms for about a short amount of time, but it’s probably the worst torment I’ve ever experienced in my life to this date. I feel so much happier now because my symptoms are improving. Having good health makes life much more bearable, and now I’m able to do my daily activities with much more ease. Taking care of my body is probably the best thing I can do for myself because it will keep me happy in both the short term, and long term.