Happiness is a full tank: It promotes physical and psychological health, helps with career success and benefits our relationships. Happiness also has a ripple effect, affecting those around us.
Yet, happiness is a complex concept and there are many skeptics of its significance. These skeptics often focus on relatively weak conceptions of happiness, such as assuming that only a bare majority of positive emotions suffices for happiness on hedonistic or emotional state theories.
1. You Feel Good
Despite the importance that people attach to happiness, some philosophers and scholars are skeptical of its significance. These skeptics tend to focus on relatively weak conceptions of happiness, such as treating it as little more than a state of positive emotion or hedonic well-being.
Happiness may be more than just a feeling or hedonic state, but rather a broad sense of life satisfaction. Many authors use the term hedonic well-being to refer to happiness, but others prefer subjective well-being or domain satisfactions.
Whether you choose to call it happiness or something else, research suggests that the pursuit of happiness is worthwhile. Happiness has been linked to a range of benefits, including physical health, career success and more fulfilling relationships. Happiness also has a ripple effect, benefiting those around you, from your partner and children to the store clerk and even random strangers. Happiness is a full tank, and it can be contagious. You can cultivate happiness by building strong social connections, pursuing goals and enjoying life experiences.
2. You Radiate Happiness
The more you feel good, the more it radiates to other people. This is why a smile can have such a strong impact. It affects your family, friends and co-workers. It also spreads to those you interact with in a more indirect way, such as strangers.
People are more likely to be happy if they have positive social support, including close relationships with spouses and children. This is why it’s important to work on your relationships and nurture the ones that you have.
Genetics, life circumstances and achievements all play a role in happiness. But so do things you can control, such as regularly indulging in small pleasures, getting absorbed in challenging activities, setting and meeting goals, finding a purpose beyond yourself, and maintaining healthy habits like regular exercise. These are all factors that can lead to a lifetime of well-being.