We often hear people say “I have everything a person could want, BUT I am not happy”.
One reason of this is the confusion is when people take happiness and pleasure parallel. This reason of unclear approaches of pleasure with a life of happiness make people discontent in life leading them to loose purpose and meaning of life. A 5 part formula referred as PERMA has been proposed by Seligman. A person can gain a deep sense of happiness and fulfilment by having all 5 in life.
Positive emotions: Positive emotions include hope, interest, joy, love, compassion, pride, amusement, and gratitude. Increasing positive emotions helps individuals build physical, intellectual, psychological, and social resources that lead to this resilience and overall wellbeing.
Engagement: Engagement refers to activities that engage your mind, body and soul like playing sports or musical instruments, gardening, etc. Thus, having a hobby is important to stay happy.
When we focus on doing the things we truly enjoy and care about, we can begin to engage completely with the present moment and enter the state of being known as flow. Flow state is beyond the feeling of happiness, where the time, space and place standstill, and you’re immersed deeply in what you do.
Relationships: The feeling of being supported, loved, and valued by others. Our relationships help mitigate the stress responses, and our burdens are not as heavy when we have someone to share them with. Having a sound relationship with people connects to a strong support system which is key to achieving happiness.
Meaning: A fundamental human quality is the search for meaning and the need to have a sense of value and worth. Having meaning or purpose in life is different for everyone. Meaning may be pursued through a profession, a social or political cause, a creative endeavor, or a religious/spiritual belief. It may be found in a career or through extracurricular, volunteer, or community activities.
Accomplishment: Accomplishment could be your goals or objectives in life. You could have short term or long term goals and we need these primarily to push us to work and in time they give us a sense of accomplishment. With accomplishment comes a sense of satisfaction which then translates to happiness.