The BBC has reported on research which suggests people are either happy or they are not, regardless of what happens to them during their life. Does this ring true for people? And does it undermine plans to teach people to be happy?
It does make a certain sense to me in that some people just seem more cheerful than others. But it doesn't take into account a global index of happiness which broadly puts wealthier more stable nations at the top and poorer ones at the bottom.
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This is an age old debate. It's even mentioned in the bible where Paul, whilst writing about his imprisonment in Phillipi says (paraphrased) that happiness is being content with what you have. Several ancient Greek philosophers (notably the Stoics) held similair views.
More recently Albert Ellis (the founder of Rational Emotive Therapy) came up with 12 rational beliefs which, if adopted would lead to many benefits including the attainment of happiness.
Personally I think that there are many factors that influence happiness and the global index does make a valid point - especialy if the poorer countries are also fraught with famine, disease and conflict. However another factor is simply the decision to be happy.
People who are miserable tend to wake up believing that the world will treat them badly that day - and it does. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. The same is true of people who are happy. They expect to be happy and funnily enough they are. That's just as much a self-fulfilling prophecy as its miserable counterpart.
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Such an interesting debate, and one that I'm somewhat torn on. I agree with Sim that a person's disposition can generally dictate whether she or he is 'happy' or not - i.e. if someone is cheerful overall - but a recent feature I wrote on how professionals look at and measure children's well-being and happiness made me view things differently.
In the piece Dennis Hayes, head of the centre for professional learning at Canterbury Christ Church University, argues that a person can only make themselves happy by doing something positive for themselves. That makes sense as I know I feel 'happier' if I'm doing something constructive and achieving something for me, regardless of what it is (knitting is working for me right now).
Ultimately I think it's a mixture: having peace of mind, being able to weather the bumps in the road, combined with doing positive and fun things as well as living in a society that is stable, wealthy and constant.
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On the whole I view myself as a fairly happy, optimistic type of person. But that doesn't mean I always expect to be happy, and of course, I'm not always. At the moment I'm truly unhappy because of events that have unfolded this week, it had nothing to do with a self-fulfilling prophecy because it was out of my control. You wouldn't be human if you always expected to be happy, in fact it would make you a pretty unfeeling and insensitive person if you expected to bounce through life never feeling unhappy. Knowing that doesn't put a smile on my face though...
I agree Red Fraggle! Being happy all the time isn't normal - but it doesn't make unhappiness any easier to deal with. And smiling is overated
i believe that you have to experience sadness to appreciate happiness. after two years on prozac i finally stopped taking it as i realised that although my life was constant with no sadness i was not truely experiencing happiness, that was two years ago and i have not looked back since.
lizzer: i believe that you have to experience sadness to appreciate happiness. after two years on prozac i finally stopped taking it as i realised that although my life was constant with no sadness i was not truely experiencing happiness, that was two years ago and i have not looked back since.
That's interesting lizzer, I didn't realise that prozac effected a person's emotions to the extent that they didn't feel happiness as well as not feeling sadness.
no neither did I Anabel not until i had been on it for a few years. i dont know if it is the same for everyone but i guess it makes sense otherwise how can the drug distinguish between emotions. i would be interested to hear if others have experienced this numbing of senses too but it is hard to get people to admit to mental illhealth even in social workers as some see it as a sign of weakness or the fear that people will think that if you have suffered mental health problems will you be able to make importan desicions in times of stress. personally it has made me understand myself better knowing where my limits are and what i need to do to look after myself. it also makes me want to single handedly change the way people feel about mental health, their own and others. luckily however i dont have to do it single handedly as there are others who also feel as passionately as me.
Indeed there are Lizzer.
I didn't realise that either but when you think about it it kind of makes sense. It is obviously not at all the same but it reminds me how when something really bad happens to people they can go into an emotional shut down mode where they just kind of cope - not letting anybody get close to them, and therefore not experiencing happiness but also not being able to be hurt by people at the same time and therefore not getting depressed.
I think you can live like this for a bit but certainly not for long periods.
lizzer: no neither did I Anabel not until i had been on it for a few years. i dont know if it is the same for everyone but i guess it makes sense otherwise how can the drug distinguish between emotions. i would be interested to hear if others have experienced this numbing of senses too but it is hard to get people to admit to mental illhealth even in social workers as some see it as a sign of weakness or the fear that people will think that if you have suffered mental health problems will you be able to make importan desicions in times of stress. personally it has made me understand myself better knowing where my limits are and what i need to do to look after myself. it also makes me want to single handedly change the way people feel about mental health, their own and others. luckily however i dont have to do it single handedly as there are others who also feel as passionately as me.
I know several people who have taken, and do take, prozac and they've never mentioned a 'numbing' of their feelings or senses to me when I've asked them about it. Maybe it depends on what a person takes the medication for, how much of it they take and what they want to get from using it?
And I agree lizzer, there is much stigma regarding mental ill health - even in social care. I can imagine, given the intensity and stressful nature of the job, social care workers will not want to admit to feeling stressed or her or his mental health is suffereing. Good luck!
The latest book to be published on the subject of wellbeing suggests eating seaweed and porridge, smiling more, going dancing, spending less money and phoning people rather than texting them as ways to feel happy, rather than taking medication. It's written by a couple of academics and supposedly based on various studies that have been carried out around the world.
for me eating porridge does make me feel happier but i think that has something to do with the vitamin B in it rather than the sheer joy of porridge! as for texting instead of phoning it depends on the context of the call/message.
I guess they are suggesting we all make sure we have more personal contact with our friends/family rather than the less personal texts or emails. Having said that texting can be very convenient
I remember that Michael Argyle the late psycholopgist wrote that the secret of happiness was Scottish country dancing. It involved music, exercise and socialising all of which make you happy.
I've been on seroxat for a year now, having been depressed and anxious. I've used it before and had CBT (which does work) My emotions are not numb, but I am not anxious and worrying now, I sleep well and don't have constant intrusive thoughts. All in all happy! I'll be coming off the seroxat when my horizon is less clouded. I think one of the factors in happiness is your own resilience or lack of it.
Curiously though, as I've got older (well over 50) I have become more content generally even without the meds.
simeon2: The latest book to be published on the subject of wellbeing suggests eating seaweed and porridge, smiling more, going dancing, spending less money and phoning people rather than texting them as ways to feel happy, rather than taking medication. It's written by a couple of academics and supposedly based on various studies that have been carried out around the world.
Fascinating! So porridge and seaweed - although pressumably not together - make a person happy? I like both but they have never impacted my mood, good or bad...
I agree that more personal contact, such as dancing and speaking on the phone, makes people happier but am not sure that less texting is the answer. Perhaps it's about getting a good balance of all of these things.