What is being happy?

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894)

baby The sort of glee that we appreciate in babies [photo by gadgetgirl] is only one sort of being happy – there are a wide range of feelings and experiences that relate, including cheerfulness, contentment, exuberance, pleasure, optimism, prosperity, vivacity, well-being.

The Study of Adult Development at Harvard University identified four personal qualities that help people be among the â€œHappy-Wellâ€ – 1. a future orientation and the ability to anticipate and plan positively (hope and optimism) 2. the capacity for both gratitude and forgiveness 3. the ability to see the world through the eyes of another (the capacity to love and be loved) 4. the desire to do things with and for people (kindness, social intelligence).

From article The Happy-Well: Positive Psychology Tips for Living Well and Longer, By Sherri Fisher.

More about this study, and being happy and well into maturity and late life is detailed in George Vaillant, MDâ€™s book, Aging Well.

Psychologist and creativity coach Eric Maisel, PhD says one of the basic elements for life satisfaction, especially for creative people, is making meaning. He says even obsessions can be positive and lead to happiness. See list of his articles.

Psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison talks about passion, and also the sort of elation that can become extreme in bipolar disorder:

“I want people to appreciate how life-saving exuberance is to us as a species,” says Jamison. “I have always been fascinated by mania. There is an exhilaration in the early stages of mania that people who have experienced it would sell their firstborn to feel again. Mania is a sickness; it’s easy to romanticize unless you’ve been there.

“What is really healthy and great is exuberance. A passion for life, an exuberant temperament, allows people to do things they wouldn’t be able to do if they didn’t have it,” Jamison said.
[From the page Passion; also see related page: Hypomania.]

Kay Redfield Jamison, MD is author of Exuberance : The Passion for Life.

Psychologist Marc F. Kern, PhD notes, “If it weren’t for the existence of positive feelings accompanying a goal, most people would not pursue activities involving delayed gratification, such as getting an advanced educational degree or getting married.

“Motivation in life is simply a matter of moving TOWARD a feeling or AWAY from a feeling. All behavior is basically the result of ‘payoffs’ (a feeling or state that usually makes you feel better than you did) which result from a certain action or behavior.” [From his book Take Control Now.]