I dedicate this paper to all people feeling depressed or unhappy for any reason regardless of their gender and age just to show them that it is much easier to be happy than they can imagine.
Happiness: a complicated notion of a natural human state
Because I'm happy /Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy /Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy /Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy/Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do
(Pharrell Willams Lyrics)
How often do you say to yourself, to people around you that you are happy or that you feel happy? Every day? Once a week, a month? Maybe more often? Ornever? What makes you happy and how can you understand that now you are happy or unhappy? At first sight all these questions may seem strange because everyone is able to understand whether he or she is happy or unhappy. However, not everyone is able to describe, nor define this intangible state of happiness.
In our dynamically growing world with its new innovative technologies very often people feel depressed and unhappy which is not surprising because we are all exposed to such phenomena as industrialization, technology and science progress, high pace of life, overpopulation and many others related to the modern age of humanity. The Homo Sapiens of 21st century is a new type of human being which is quite different from his ancestors.
People work in big offices spending most of their lives to make money, develop some business projects, travelling abroad so that sometimes they can’t find time for the most valuable and precious things such as spending time with family or friends, playing football with old classmates or attending their child’s school events. This makes them depressed and unhappy so many of them start to attending psychologists and think of how to be happier. Therefore the proper understanding of the concept of happiness is very important for struggling with depression which became the number one disease of the 21st century.
So many things can make us happy: good news, successfully passed exams, promotion at work, birthday party, beautiful sunset, falling in love, spending time with close friends or family, massage, new clothes, first kiss, tasty foodIt is obvious that this list may be endless because happiness is very subjective and depends on our own interests, values, education, preferences, likes and dislikes.
Another important issue is whether happiness is measurable and if yes how can it be measured? For example, I feel happy when I buy new clothes or shoes or when I eat some delicious food or look at a beautiful sunrise thinking of a new day full of new interesting events. I feel very happy when I get a present which I was dreaming of long time or when I succeed in something, e.g. exams, performance, etc. However, there are some very special events which can make me extremely happy: marriage, my children’s birth, recovery from an illness, lottery prize, etc. This means that happiness is quite measurable and different events make us happy differently.
First of all, let’s find a definition for happiness to better understand its nature and to be able to properly describe it. It should be noted that finding the right definition is not an easy task since many dictionaries provide a kind of synonymous descriptions of happiness or explain this notion by the words of the same stem (happy). For instance, Merriam-Webster dictionary provides a number of definitions for happiness: “the state of being happy; an experience that makes you happy; a state of well-being and contentment: joy; a pleasurable or satisfying experience” (Merriam-Webster). It is clear that in order to get a more appropriate definition we need to address to psychology since happiness is a first of all a psychological state. So psychologists interpret happiness as a psychological well-being which is not equal to satisfaction or contentment or other similar states and which is not directly opposite to unhappiness since the notion of happiness is much more complicated and multi-sided than one could think (Whitbourne).
The modern psychology of happiness often relates to classical hierarchy of needs introduced by A. Maslow. Maslow’s idea consists in that when people satisfy their basic needs which are biological and physiological needs for air, food, water, etc., their safety needs (protection, stability, etc.), their belongingness and love need (affection, love, family), their esteem need (reputation, status, achievements), they tend to satisfy so-called self-actualization needs, or personal growth and fulfillment which make people happy (Chapman).
On the other hand, scientists discovered that happiness is a physiology-related state depending on some specific biological processes and chemical substances. For example, serotonin and dopamine are considered as the key chemical elements which regulate our mood, behavior and finally our feeling of happiness. As these substances are present in turkey, fish, bananas and milk, eating this food is supposed to make us happy (The Science of Happiness: What data & biology reveal about our mood).
Another fact is that people feel happier when they do some exercise outside in good weather in comparison to those who stay at home because exercises release endorphins and proteins responsible for our pleasure and good mood hence happiness. It is interesting that according to some studies happiness has its temperature: happiness is maximized at 57 F (The Science of Happiness: What data & biology reveal about our mood).
In addition, sleeping well and being healthy are very important to feel happy: sleep-deprived students remembered 81 % of negative words and only 31 % of good ones in one scientific research (The Science of Happiness: What data & biology reveal about our mood).
Moreover, happiness is a socially and even geographically determined state. Scientists found out that married people are happier than unmarried ones, that clergymen, actors, architects and firefighters are the happiest occupations in the world, that people who attend church regularly are happier than those who never attend service and that the happiest people live in Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands and Australia (The Science of Happiness: What data & biology reveal about our mood).
Apart from being psychological, physiological and social notion, happiness is obviously and maybe primarily a concept largely addressed in philosophy. Since Aristotle and Plato a huge number of philosophers have been investigating the issue of human happiness looking for different causes underlying the achievement of happiness and analyzing its effects on human beings. In philosophy happiness is interpreted in two general ways: “a state of mind or a life that goes well for the person leading it” (Haybron).
Based on these two approaches philosophers consider happiness as hedonism where happiness is associated to pleasure and well-being, and life satisfaction theory which is focused on individual attitude towards life. The third happiness-related theory is based on emotional state description without pleasure aspect so that happiness is described as a broad psychological notion in philosophical terms. The fourth philosophical approach is hybrid since it combines all previous theories and identifies happiness as a subjective well-being (Haybron).
This variety of philosophical theories may be explained by the unclearness of the notion of happiness itself. The matter is that the word ‘happiness’ was literally translated from ancient Greek and nowadays it is commonly used to describe states close to having fun which does not comply with ancient understanding of happiness (Aristotle. Pursuit of Happiness).
Aristotle interpreted happiness as the “ultimate goal and value” of human life, he believed that happiness might not be achieved in one day and that an individual needed the whole his life to come to this “ultimate state” so that children for example may not say they are happy since they are not at the age of happiness. According to Aristotle, in order to be happy people should always work on their virtue and contemplation of their own life experience. The most known Aristotle’s idea on happiness which still remains relevant and important for happiness understanding consists in that “happiness depends on ourselves” (Aristotle. Pursuit of Happiness).
Evidently, the framework of this paper does not allow describing all relevant theories and approaches to understanding of happiness concept. However, some crucial conclusions may be drawn based on all above-mentioned points.
First, happiness represents a very broad, complicated and subjective concept which is studied by a number of different disciplines such as psychology, physiology, sociology and philosophy.
Then it is focused on pleasure and satisfaction summarized in the definition of subjective well-being. The subjective nature of happiness implies that it is very individual and fully depends on ourselves.
So the general conclusion which may be drawn here is that a universal recipe for happiness does not exist since happiness is very individual and different for everyone of us.
Works cited
Aristotle. Pursuit of happiness (2016). Web: http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/aristotle/
Chapman, A. Maslow's hierarchy of needs (2016). Web: http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm
Happiness. Merriam-Webster dictionary. Web: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/happiness
Haybron, D. Happiness (2011). Web: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/happiness/
Pharrell, W. Happy. Song Lyrics. Web: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pharrellwilliams/happy.html
The Science of Happiness: What data & biology reveal about our mood (2013) Web: http://www.webpagefx.com/blog/general/the-science-of-happiness/
Whitbourne, S., K. How Should Psychology Define Happiness? (2014) Web: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201405/how-should-psychology-define-happiness
