From Wikipedia in 2012
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness
Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including Positive Psychology, endeavor to apply the scientific method to answer questions about what “happiness” is, and how we might attain it.
Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. Happiness economics suggests that measures of public happiness should be used to supplement more traditional economic measures when evaluating the success of public policy.
Book Excerpts
A Thousand Paths to Happiness, by David Baird. 2000.
Authentic Happiness by Martin E. P. Seligman. 2002.
Learned Optimism by Martin E. P. Seligman. 2002.
Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert. 2006.
The Happiness Advantage, by Shawn Achor. 2010.
The Happiness Hypothesis, by Jonathan Haidt. 2006.
The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin. 2009.
The How of Happiness, by Sonja Lyubomirsky. 2007.
The Pursuit of Happiness. By David G. Myer. 1992.
Quotations
Web Articles
Barking Up The Wrong Tree: Things you didn’t know about happiness
Barking Up The Wrong Tree: Things that are proven to make you happier
My Own Writing
Things That Contribute To Happiness
Happiness comes from learning and applying new skills.
Taking classes is a great way to increase your happiness because:
– It’s mentally engaging.
– You’re learning new skills and knowledge, making yourself more capable.
– You’re you become a more interesting person.
– You’re around other people, who also share a common interest.
The key to happiness is focused action. But it’s important to remember that happiness comes after you start to take action, not before. The action must also yield visible progress. Paradoxically, action creates energy. It also creates clarity.
Happiness requires structure.
Happiness factors:
– Being with family and friends.
– Making a contribution. Helping others.
– Having a life partner.
– Developing and applying skills.
– Being in nature.
When you’re working directly on your highest priority problems and your actions are yielding visible progress, you’ll feel happier.
I’m happiest when I have a workable plan and I’m working my way steadily through that plan.
You will only be calm if you have a workable plan.
“There is no happiness without action.”
-The How of Happiness
To be happy, you need both pleasure and progress.
Busy people are happier.
Movement yields happiness.
All through school, they teach you that the most important thing is knowledge. But in life, the most important thing is action.
Two little want and too little progress yields stagnation. Too much want and too little progress yields frustration. Steady want and steady progress yields satisfaction.
One component of happiness is a feeling that you’re progressing and advancing.
“You’ve got to see visible progress to keep your spirits up.”
– Bear Grylls
Happiness lies in action; in the acquisition and use of skills.
If you have insufficient processes in place to structure your free time, then it (and your life) will quickly become unstructured and disordered, and you will feel stressed and anxious.
A sense of meaning and purpose in your life seems to be an essential component of happiness.
My happiness doesn’t depend on how much I have compared to others, but how much I have done and become compared to what I could have.
A lot of your happiness (or lack thereof) is based on your perception (or misperception) of how your life is going.
One method to increase happiness is to create meaning by writing a narrative about your life.
When you’re experiencing happiness, look around. Try to notice the elements that are creating the experience. Are you with friends? Are you physically moving? Are you perceiving beauty?
You have to believe in something to be happy.
Happiness seems to be like good health: it doesn’t come from just one thing, but from doing lots of things right.
Maybe happiness is an emergent property.