Dr Happy | How to get happier

12 Sep How to get happier

Posted at 13:55h in Happy Tips by admin

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by Joanna Hall for Body & Soul

IS happiness an elusive concept or something we can all have if we put our minds to it?

What happiness means to each person is highly individual.

Happiness could depend upon finding Mr or Miss Right; having a much-wanted baby; or achieving personal fulfilment at work.

Yet there are people who appear to _ã–have it all_ã on paper, and still happiness eludes them. Conversely, some people have faced incredible adversity and yet remain intrinsically happy. What_ã_s going on?

Dr Timothy Sharp, a founder of the Happiness Institute, defines happiness as a range of positive emotions, from the obvious _ã–high-arousal_ã ones such as joy and excitement, to the low-arousal emotions such as calm, contentment and satisfaction.

Dr Sharp says happiness is determined by three variables: genetics, context or environment and intentional activities.

_ã–Genetics determine about 40 to 50 per cent of our happiness,_ã he says. _ã–Context and environment accounts for about 10 per cent, and intentional activities, or what we choose to do, account for about 40 per cent._ã

Dr Sharp says the good news is that we can, to some extent, change our _ã–context_ã. We can move house, change jobs and change what we think and what we do. Happiness, like optimism, is a learned behaviour.

_ã–There_ã_s no doubt that people can learn to be more optimistic and, as a result, they can become happier,_ã Dr Sharp says.

Read the full article – HERE

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