Happiness is a sense of satisfaction with your life; a feeling that life is going ahead well for you. Happiness involves positive emotions of joy, contentment, affection, attachment and love.
Happy people are:
More comfortable expressing gratitude
Philanthropic
Present minded
Often spiritual or religious
Savouring the moment
Deeply committed to life-long goals
Happiness manifests itself physically, helping our bodies to be healthier. Just like physical exercise, happiness makes our hearts work better, our immune systems stronger and increases our life expectancies.
Happiness also increases our creativity, and helps us to have better relationships. Happiness helps us to be better leaders, inspire others around us and also can lead to greater personal and professional productivity. Happiness also helps us to be more resilient and cope better in hard times.
Happiness is not the same as joy; happiness is the state of being which is a collection and reconciliation of all your emotions. It is the ability to be in the moment, see past the limitations and be grateful for who you are and where you are.
How happy are you?
Where would you sit on a scale stretching from ‘not happy’ to ‘too happy’? Find out in this five-minute test from psychologists at Oxford Brookes University.
Happiness Part 2 to follow..
In Part 2 of the Happiness Series we take a look at how to get happy...
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