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Does happiness come alone or do we have to go find it?
Psychology
Joy and pleasure are the emotions that are reinforced to be able to ‘reach’ the state of happiness
When we think happiness, at first it is easy to associate it with everything that has to do with good weather. More hours of light, more plans with friends, more time with the family, more leisure activities … we associate positive emotion par excellence with the hot months of the year.
Beyond being a sensation, this has a logical explanation. Andrea Menéndez García de la Infanta, psychologist at TherapyChat, comments that if we talk about the sun, we do it from our source of natural energy par excellence. This happens because the sun is what makes us have more vitamin D, related to the production of serotonin. And serotonin, called by some ‘the hormone of happiness’, is a neurotransmitter that helps us regulate mood. Thanks to this increase in emotional well-being, we can appreciate more emotions such as joy, or pleasure, which ends up leading to more enjoyment of each experience and being able to feel greater happiness in the moments lived.
“Good weather days can drive us to do more outdoor, social and leisure activities; that is to say, more stimulating and reinforcing activities for us », adds the professional. Time spent with friends and dedication to our interpersonal relationships also help us to generate positive emotions (joy, pleasure, love), which are related in turn to a deeper feeling of happiness and personal and emotional well-being. «We are also social beings; we are born and live in society and, therefore, feeling part of it or feeling that we form and are part of a group creates happiness for us ”, says the psychologist.
Usually we can say whate friendship is related to good self-esteem and psychological well-being; It allows us to develop in the way we want to, without making us feel judged, or less valued and loved.
Can happiness be worked?
Andrea Menéndez García de la Infanta, psychologist at TherapyChat, assures that “happiness is an emotion and as such depends on the attitude with which we live the situations that surround us and the experiences we live, as well as the work we do to enhance it and cultivate it.
The professional explains that Martin Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology, generated a model with five components that must be taken into account to work on happiness and obtain greater psychological well-being. He called this model PERMA, for its acronym in English:
1. P: Positive emotions. It is important to encourage the presence of positive emotions in our life, for example making space in our day to day for moments, activities and people that generate them.
2. E: Engagement. According to Seligman, we will be happier the more committed we are to ourselves, that is, the more involved we are in the tasks and experiences that we propose, and this has a lot to do with involving our personal strengths in what we do. For example, there are activities with which we feel more in tune and with which, if we get fully into them, we will feel that time flies by.
3. A: Relationships. The more we take care of our interpersonal relationships, the more well-being we will feel. The quality of our relationships is directly related to better emotional health and is a buffer from the effect of stress in our lives.
4. M: Meaning and purpose. An important element to be happier is to have purposes that guide us and give importance to our day to day. This gives meaning to our life.
5. A: Accomplishment (Logros). Finally, a factor that adds to the feeling of well-being is feeling autonomous and capable, and this has a lot to do with achievements and small successes. Therefore, it is in our power to set goals and put the will to achieve them.
If we talk about happiness, it is a very broad term, because each person can have a different idea about what it means to be happy. If the classical definition is used, the psychologist comments that it is «a emotion felt and produced at the moment in which the human being lives or reaches well-being, satisfaction and enjoyment. Even so, he points out that we are talking about an emotion, and these start from the human being and are felt and perceived individually. So, we talk about happiness being a subjective term, “since its experience and expression belongs to each human being.”
How do you get to happiness?
So, if we plan the ‘search’ for happiness, we are talking about a scenario with many variables, then, points out the professional, “each person reaches it through different paths, experiences and experiences.” Explain what each person associates joy or pleasure with different activities and moments: «For example, there will be someone who reaches that state enjoying a very delicious meal, while another person will be filled with happiness watching a football match». The most important thing, says Andrea Menéndez García de la Infanta, is to recognize that subjectivity, our strengths, and our sense of happiness and build the path to our happiness, as well as respect the path and concerns of others.
Another question that is planned is whether we can, on our own, achieve happiness, or we need the help of other people. The psychologist comments whate we must not ignore or ignore that, as social beings, we live in an environment and context that influences us in our day-to-day life. The external factors, then, are there, and it is important to accept them and learn from them. However, if we go to the most primal source of happiness, we return to the idea that emotions are born from us. For this reason, it is not possible to fall into the passivity of believing that the environment will determine at all times how we feel. “Reaching states of fullness, joy or happiness will be a matter of each human being, of the work of their attitudes in front of life and in front of the situations experienced”, assures the professional.