Blog post by Jennifer De Paola, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki and a Compass Psychology associate. Her research centers on happiness and positive psychology.
The end of summer vacation can trigger mixed feelings. If you had time to unwind at a summer cabin, see your friends and family, or enjoy a staycation, going back to the reality of your everyday life can be a bittersweet experience. This is a great time for tuning into your inner world to understand how you’re doing. Are you happy with your life? Can you become happier?
Before we answer, let us take a step back and introduce a brief definition of happiness from a psychological perspective. We define happiness (or Subjective Well-being) as a high frequency of positive emotions and a low frequency of negative emotions, combined with overall satisfaction with our life. In addition, many scholars refer to happiness in terms of meaningful life.
So back to our initial question, what do psychologists say about achieving happiness? Is there anything you can do to increase your happiness?
Empirical research shows that up to 50% of your happiness level may be predetermined by genes. We know this thanks to scientific studies conducted among identical twins. When monitoring the happiness level of identical twins raised apart, researchers found that their happiness scores often mirrored each other and that a twin’s score could predict another’s, even if their upbringing had been completely different! In other words, your DNA defines your default level of happiness, regardless of what is going on in your life.
The good news is, that the remaining 50% of your happiness level is influenced by the choices you make, your circumstances, and the opportunities you are given.
Here are some science-based specific habits that you can implement in your life to improve your level of happiness:
- Cultivate a healthy lifestyle in terms of diet, physical activity, and sleep. This doesn’t have to entail radically different routines and habits; you can start small. This can look anything like eating more fruits and vegetables, walking to work instead of taking the tram, or going to bed half an hour earlier.
- Cultivate your self-esteem. This could be a more or less extensive change depending on your current self-esteem level. To keep it simple, try to avoid comparing yourself with others and set aside time to do something nice for yourself.
- Use self-compassion. Try to challenge unkind thoughts about yourself. It’s a common human tendency to hold high personal standards and to be over-critical towards our behaviour. If you can, try practicing speaking to yourself with the same kindness you reserve for others, and use the same words of encouragement that you would use for a friend.
- Foster close relationships. When asking people around the world the question “What makes you happy?” researchers found some cultural differences in the way people answered this question. However, no matter which country people were from, there seemed to be a universally mentioned ‘ingredient’ of happiness: close relationships. It is a good idea to dedicate some quality time to the people who are close to you, whether it is your spouse, your children, or a dear friend.
- Cultivate a healthy connection with something bigger than yourself. Yes, in some cases this can look like feeling connected to a religion or a spiritual entity, but it doesn’t have to be that. It can be as simple as fostering connectedness with nature – plenty of opportunities for doing that in Finland!
- Practice random acts of kindness. There is empirical evidence suggesting that doing something nice for someone else, without them asking and without you expecting anything in return, will increase your level of happiness. This can look like paying someone a compliment, offering to babysit for a friend, or sending a kind note.
- Express gratitude. Research shows that expressing gratitude will boost your happiness. For example, you could try keeping a gratitude ‘journal’, or simply listing three things you are grateful for in the evening before you go to bed. In addition, you could practice savouring small moments of contentment when you experience them. It can be small things, like having a cup of coffee or looking at a beautiful sunset. Relish and take pleasure in the little things that give you pleasure. Practising this ability will help you to achieve enduring happiness.
References
- Boehm, J. K., & S. Lyubomirsky. (2009). The promise of sustainable happiness. In C.R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (pp. 667–677). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
- De Paola, J. (2022). Happiness and its digital publics: social representations of happiness in social media and digital journalism arenas. PhD Thesis, University of Helsinki
- Delle Fave, A., Brdar, I., Wissing, M. P., Araujo, U., Castro Solano, A., Freire, T., … & Soosai-Nathan, L. (2016). Lay definitions of happiness across nations: The primacy of inner harmony and relational connectedness. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 30.
- Kesebir, P. (2018). Scientific answers to the timeless philosophical question of happiness. In E. Diener,S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of well-being. Salt Lake City, UT: DEF Publishers.
- Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological science, 7(3), 186–189.
- Lyubomirsky, S., & Layous, K. (2013). How do simple positive activities increase well-being?. Current directions in psychological science, 22(1), 57–62.
- Røysamb, E., & Nes, R. B. (2018). The genetics of wellbeing. Handbook of well-being. Salt Lake City, UT: DEF Publishers.