Happiness: What does it looks like?

"Can you remember the last time you felt truly joyful for a long time?"

Many individuals are frequently taken aback by these questions. We can become so engrossed in the many things that surround us that we forget HOW or WHAT makes us happy.

Alternatively, perhaps we set a criterion for ourselves as to HOW to be happy. We're always on the lookout for something, whether it's a promotion, a new automobile, or a romantic partner. This leads to the assumption that "I'll finally be happy when (blank) happens."

While these important events initially make us joyful, research suggests that this enjoyment does not continue. A Northwestern University study compared the happiness levels of ordinary people to those who had won huge lottery winnings the previous year. The researchers were shocked to find that both groups' happiness scores were nearly comparable. 

Happiness is a synthetic emotion that you either produce or don't. Your habits determine how long you will be happy. People who are supremely happy have developed routines that allow them to retain their happiness on a daily basis. Experiment with their behaviors to see what they can achieve for you:

• GABA, a neurotransmitter that calms your brain and keeps you in control of your impulses, is released when you move your body for just 10 minutes. Happy people plan frequent exercise and stick to it because they know it improves their mood dramatically.
• We are prone to falling into routines by nature. This is beneficial in some ways. It saves time and energy while also providing comfort. However, you can become so engrossed in your daily routine that you forget to appreciate the small pleasures in life. Happy people understand the value of savoring their meal, reveling in a fantastic conversation, or simply stepping outdoors to take a deep breath of fresh air.
• Happiness spreads from one to person. Surrounding oneself with joyful people boosts your confidence, encourages creativity, and is simply enjoyable. Hanging around with pessimists has the opposite impact. People are invited to join their pity party in order to feel better about themselves. Consider this: Would you sit there all afternoon inhaling second-hand smoke if someone was smoking? You'd put some distance between yourself and negative people, and you should do the same with them.
• Your brain essentially recharges when you sleep, eliminating harmful proteins that accumulate as byproducts of regular neuronal activity during the day. This guarantees that you are attentive and clear-headed when you wake up. When you don't get enough quality sleep, your energy, attention, and memory all suffer. Even in the absence of a stressor, sleep loss elevates stress hormone levels. Sleep is a priority for happy people because it makes them feel good, and they know how bad it feels to be sleep-deprived.
• Helping others releases oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine, all of which provide pleasurable feelings. Employees who helped others were 10 times more likely to be focused at work and 40 percent more likely to obtain a promotion, according to Harvard research. People who continuously provided social support were the most likely to be joyful during times of severe stress, according to the same study. As long as you make sure you aren't overcommitting yourself, helping others will have a beneficial impact on your mood.
• Nobody, including extraordinarily happy people, wakes up feeling cheerful every day. They simply put in more effort than the rest of us. They understand how easy it is to fall into a pattern in which you don't pay attention to your feelings or actively endeavor to be joyful and optimistic. People who are happy are always assessing their feelings and making decisions with their pleasure in mind.
• Everyone, especially joyful individuals, is subject to adversity. Instead of whining about how things could or should have been, joyful people think about all they have to be grateful for. Then they determine the best solution to the problem, implement it, and move on. Pessimism is a powerful source of sadness. Aside from the negative effects on your mood, the problem with a pessimistic mindset is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you expect terrible things, you're more likely to get them. Pessimistic thoughts are difficult to overcome unless you see how irrational they are. If you force yourself to look at the facts, you'll notice that things aren't as awful as they appear.

Happiness can be difficult to keep up with, yet putting resources into the right propensities pays off. Taking on even a couple of the propensities from this rundown will have a major effect on your state of mind.

Source: https://bit.ly/3pE7nAc