Welcome to The Happier Newsletter, a weekly newsletter where I provide actionable ideas to help you build a happier, healthier, and more meaningful life.
What’s On Today
- Topic: The Happiness Pie Chart
- Question: Building More Happiness Into Your Life
- Quote: Every Day Is A New Day
- Favourites Of The Week
The Happiness Pie Chart
There are many people who possess a lack of happiness in their lives. This is often caused by a lack of understanding about the causes of unhappiness as well as the solution to becoming happier.
In her book The How of Happiness: A new Approach to Getting the Life You Want, positive psychologist Sonya Lyubomirsky outlines what she believes are the factors that make up our overall happiness:
- Genetics. Our genetics or the biological traits that we inherit from our parents, can play a role in determining our happiness level. Studies have shown that genetic factors can account for up to 50% of the variability in individual happiness. This means that some people may be born with a natural disposition towards happiness, while others may be more predisposed to negative emotions like anxiety and depression.
- Life Circumstances. They are the events and conditions that happen to us or around us, often beyond our control, and can have a significant impact on our overall level of happiness. It's the one factor that everyone wants: If I get that job, if the person I love marries me; then I'll be happy. But this is not true because of something called the hedonic treadmill, where we quickly adapt to positive or negative changes in our lives and return to our set baseline level of happiness.
- Intentional Activities or Habits. Habits are the only thing you can control and therefore is the only thing that really matters - it helps you manage your genes and make your circumstances systematically better. Research has shown that habits have a significant impact on our happiness level, and can even help us overcome negative life circumstances or genetic predispositions towards negativity.
As you can tell from the happiness pie, the only factor that is within your control, is your ‘habits’.
Yet, most people believe that happiness is determined by their circumstances: “If only I weren’t sick,” “If only I had more money,” “If only I was thinner,” and the list goes on and on.
So rather than focusing on getting a promotion, making more money, or getting the newest gadgets, you should focus on the activities you do every single day.
According to the Greater Good, here are some of the things you can do to give yourself the best chance of success:
- Choose activities that fit your personality and interests. Activities fit us better when they feel natural, enjoyable, and aligned with our values, rather than driven by guilt or other people’s expectations.
- Choose activities that are virtuous and meaningful, rather than obsessing about feeling good all the time. Hedonism won’t necessarily make you happy, even if you feel good in the moment. If we pursue pleasure, it shouldn’t be at the expense of living a meaningful life. We also need to pursue a purpose, and practice forgiveness, gratitude, and generosity—those give us a sense of competence, autonomy, and connection, which are core human needs.
- Commit to and put effort into the process. Unsurprisingly, people who invest more effort into their new habits see greater improvements in their well-being.
- Add variety into your routine. Doing an exercise—like writing gratitude letters—the same way over and over can mean that we become accustomed to it and don’t reap as many benefits. You have to keep your brain alive to possibilities.
Key message: It’s possible to take deliberate steps to get happier and to stay happier in life.
Building More Happiness Into Your Life
What is one activity you can do today to help you build more happiness into your life?
As you now know, the things you do every day can really affect how happy you feel. It’s all about the habits you build.
So, let’s think about it: What are some of the stuff you do regularly that make you happy? Do you get up early to hit the gym, or maybe you enjoy going on a walk in nature?
There’s a good chance you’re already doing things that make you happy without even realizing it.
But if not, don’t worry! Just think about what you know makes you happy.
Maybe it’s chatting with a friend, getting lost in a good book, or trying something new.
Today, why not do something that makes you happy? It could be as simple as calling a friend, reading a book, or taking a moment to enjoy your favourite hobby.
The key is to do something that brings you joy and adds positivity to your day.
Every Day Is A New Day
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Favourites of the Week
- Article: The 3 Equation for a Happy Life
- TEDx Talk: My Philosophy for a happy life | Sam Berns
- Video: 3 Tiny Daily Habits That Upgraded My Life
