HAPPINESS

A dictionary will give two definitions of happiness, namely:
a. State of subjective well-being and contentment
b. pleasurable or satisfying experience.

To overcome the ambiguity of the everyday term, Psychologists have invented the term SUBJECTIVE WELL-BRING ( SWB) to cover both meanings of happiness. SWB additionally includes a third component, the absence of negative emotions.

Happiness is a reflection of personal success.
If you are consistently happy, then you are successful. A person who is consistently unhappy cannot claim to be successful irrespective of his wealth or material possession.

Happiness has been found to be associated with the following: better health, longer life, higher achievement, more wealth, better productivity, and more pro-social behaviour.

Happiness improves health because it reduces the impact of negative emotions and empowers us to recover more quickly from stress and related harmful cardiovascular reactivity. Positve emotions neutralizes negative emotions and acts as reset button to take us back to our original mood.

Positive emotions not only improves health, they also make it more likely for us to live longer. Moreover, happier people tend to do better in achieving their goals both at work and in their personal lives. This is most likely connected with happier people being more curious , energetic, creative and more self-controlled. Happy people also tend to earn more money.

Finally, happier people tend to have more friends and to be better friends. This is because happier people are more sociable and altruistic , and being sociable and altruistic make them happier.

Certainly, happiness is a NOW concept. It is of t h e present moment and cannot be deferred to a future time. It is either you are happy or you are not happy. You cannot be neutral. If you are not happy today, there is no guarantee that you will be happy tomorrow. Therefore, don’t worry, be happy today.