Unlike hedonic happiness, which relies on positive emotions that are often fleeting, eudaimonic happiness is rooted in one’s character. This type of happiness aims to grow and develop oneself as a person, regardless of external circumstances.
This can include doing things like eating healthy and exercising regularly. It also can involve volunteering or other acts of kindness.
1. You feel good about yourself.
Feeling good about yourself is an internal green light that gives you permission to engage fully with life. It can feel like a rush of euphoria, a sense of achievement, or just relief that your mind is not nagging you with worries or concerns.
It also helps you build strong relationships with others because happy people tend to be more comfortable in their own skin and are less likely to compare themselves to other people. People with a healthy sense of self-regard have an internal sturdiness that lets them roll with the punches when they do get knocked down.
Make it a goal to do something every day that makes you feel good about yourself. It might be as simple as listening to a song that makes you sing along (for the introverts) or making sure you schedule some time to spend with friends to look forward to after a long week of work (for extroverts). Then, practice those daily habits regularly until they become ingrained in your routine.
2. You feel good about your life.
Research supports the concept that happiness is a combination of many factors. A few of them include a stable, sustainable standard of living; strong, supportive relationships; and a sense of purpose, meaning or achievement.
Regardless of what you think these factors should look like, it is important to remember that each person’s version of happiness is unique. That being said, it is possible to cultivate happiness by making small changes in your day-to-day routine.
For example, tackling a task that you’ve been procrastinating – whether it’s changing a burned-out light bulb or returning that overdue email – could help you feel more in control and thereby increase your overall happiness. Or, committing to one new activity each week – such as meeting a friend for coffee or trying a new exercise class – can make you feel more fulfilled and happy.
The key is to focus on what makes you feel good, rather than attempting to achieve happiness through a set of concrete goals. For more on this, read Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage.
3. You feel good about your relationships.
Happiness is important to people – a fact reflected in the popularity of self-help books and the broad academic field of positive psychology. Still, some skeptics think happiness is overrated, and their objections have merit.
One family of views, hedonism, identifies happiness with pleasant experiences (e.g., food, movies). Hedonism has some problems. For one, people who place a high value on this mental state can feel disappointed when they fail to meet their expectations.
Another family of views, emotional state theories, departs from hedonism in that it focuses on the psychological conditions that support happiness. These include gratitude, kindness, optimism, and skills like regulating emotions and forgiving others.
A fourth family of views, hybrid theories, attempts an irenic solution to our diverse intuitions about the nature of happiness. They identify happiness with both life satisfaction and pleasure or emotional state, along with domain satisfactions and negative affect. This strategy has some problems, as well.
4. You feel good about the world.
Happiness is a full tank – and it’s something you can consciously cultivate. Having a strong foundation of self-worth and positive emotions is key to living the life you want, staying calm under stress, and making the best decisions for your body and mind.
It also helps you stay resilient to setbacks and challenges. While hedonic happiness is about enjoying your current situation, eudaimonic happiness is more about finding meaning in life and having a goal-oriented purpose in life.
Eudaimonic happiness is found through activities like relationships, education, work and service. It’s what drives the passion that leads to volunteering your time, helping children learn, or caring for a sick relative.
Some people argue that focusing on life satisfaction is too narrow and that other factors, such as wealth or status, matter for human well-being. But that’s not really fair, considering low mood is correlated with negative life outcomes, such as poor health and shorter lifespan.