Life’s Curveballs

I’ve decided that my happiness meter is too low, and if you have read about me you probably know some of my problems.  Is there a ‘set point’ to your happiness and can it be changed?

Dr. Martin Seligman, in his book Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, reveals to us what he calls “The Happiness Formula.”

H (Enduring Level of Happiness) = S (Set Range) + C (Life Circumstances) + V (Voluntary Control)

I’ll just touch on three items in the formula, Enduring Level of Happiness, Set Range, and the most important, Voluntary Control.

Enduring Level of Happiness

After reading snippets of his book, it doesn’t look too good for me because it takes work to change your Enduring Level of Happiness. It is important to know the difference between momentary happiness and enduring happiness. Momentary happiness is like buying new clothes, getting flowers from a friend or lover, or seeing a funny uplifting movie. Just increasing momentary happiness in your life will not change your Enduring Level of Happiness.

Set Range

Your set range is your barrier to become happier. Dr. Seligman says that we all have a Set Range and we all return to that range after good and bad events in our lives. Our set range is set by our biological makeup and he says,

…we inherit a ‘steersman’ who urges us toward a specific level of happiness or sadness.

Even though we have a set range and our genetic makeup accounts for about 50% of our mood, the good news is that we can become happier, even though we may only see a moderate improvement. We have the power to move our Enduring Level of Happiness in a positive direction.

Voluntary Control

This seems to be the area, our cognitive perception, that we have the greatest control and influence. Dr. Seligman suggests that we can improve our Enduring Level of Happiness by controlling our emotions in regards to the Past, Present, and Future events.

By learning about each of the three different kinds of happiness, you can move your emotions in a positive direction by changing how you feel about the past, how you think about the future, and how you experience the present.

The Past – Positive emotions about the past include satisfaction, contentment, fulfillment, pride, and serenity.

The happiest people are the ones that have experienced satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment in the past. Always dwelling on the negative of past events brings pain, sadness, and anger. On the other hand, recalling the positive events of our past will make us happier. Forgiveness, of yourself and others, may help to reverse negative recollections.

The Future - Positive emotions about the future include optimism, hope, faith, confidence, and trust. Some suggest that those who have the greatest optimism, hope, and faith in the future experience greater happiness.

Optimism and hope cause better resistance to depression when bad events strike, better performance at work, particularly in challenging jobs, and better physical health.

If you can recognize pessimistic thought, challenge it, and argue against it, you can increase optimism.

The Present – Positive emotions about the present include joy, ecstasy, calm, zest, ebullience, pleasure, and flow. The people that experience greater joy, are calm in the present, and have a feeling of being “in the flow,” are the happiest.

Happiness in the present moment consists of very different states from happiness about the past and about the future, and itself embraces two very distinct kinds of things: pleasure and gratifications.

Pleasures are short lived and they are sensory and emotional. They encompass such things as thrills, orgasm, delight, exuberance, and comfort. The more they are repeated the less pleasure and happiness they bring.

Gratifications on the other hand, are longer lived. They can be anything that you enjoy doing, like a favorite hobby, good conversation, or reading a good book. You should focus most of your attention on things that gratify you for these things will insure greater happiness.

All quotes in this article were taken from the book Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Dr. Martin Seligman