So I keep talking about this thing called "happiness". What the heck do I mean?
I guess everyone's definition of happiness is different.
Well looking at a dictionary really doesn't help (they just give you some vague fluff) so let's look at what some psychologist say:
Psychologist Ed Diener, author of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, describes what psychologists call “subjective well-being” as a combination of life satisfaction and having more positive emotions than negative emotions.
Martin Seligman, one of the leading researchers in positive psychology and author of Authentic Happiness, describes happiness as having three parts: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Pleasure is the “feel good” part of happiness. Engagement refers to living a “good life” of work, family, friends, and hobbies. Meaning refers to using our strengths to contribute to a larger purpose. Seligman says that all three are important, but that of the three, engagement and meaning make the most difference to living a happy life.
Based on research of what motivates people at work and creates job satisfaction, here's a few key things: autonomy, purpose, buy in to a company's mission (passion) and the people you work with.
So I'm going to define happiness as this:
Feeling a sense of positive emotions including joy, self worth, security, satisfaction and pleasure.
OK cool so now we've got an understanding of what I mean by saying "happiness". Your definition may vary slightly and that's ok. What's more important is the things that we can do to improve our happiness (and if your definition of happiness is anywhere similar to mine then it'll be very similar).
So how do you achieve happiness?
Perception, Experiences, Purpose & People (PEPP).
Now let's have a little PEPP talk...
I guess everyone's definition of happiness is different.
Well looking at a dictionary really doesn't help (they just give you some vague fluff) so let's look at what some psychologist say:
Psychologist Ed Diener, author of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, describes what psychologists call “subjective well-being” as a combination of life satisfaction and having more positive emotions than negative emotions.
Martin Seligman, one of the leading researchers in positive psychology and author of Authentic Happiness, describes happiness as having three parts: pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Pleasure is the “feel good” part of happiness. Engagement refers to living a “good life” of work, family, friends, and hobbies. Meaning refers to using our strengths to contribute to a larger purpose. Seligman says that all three are important, but that of the three, engagement and meaning make the most difference to living a happy life.
Based on research of what motivates people at work and creates job satisfaction, here's a few key things: autonomy, purpose, buy in to a company's mission (passion) and the people you work with.
So I'm going to define happiness as this:
Feeling a sense of positive emotions including joy, self worth, security, satisfaction and pleasure.
OK cool so now we've got an understanding of what I mean by saying "happiness". Your definition may vary slightly and that's ok. What's more important is the things that we can do to improve our happiness (and if your definition of happiness is anywhere similar to mine then it'll be very similar).
So how do you achieve happiness?
Perception, Experiences, Purpose & People (PEPP).
Now let's have a little PEPP talk...
