Question the people around you. Ask them; “What makes you happy?” Most commonly, the response is dependent on external circumstances. According to the hedonic treadmill theory, we return to a stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative life changes.

I encourage you to hop off the hedonic treadmill and explore your personal happiness and the world around you to create a more joyful you.

The Happy Project explores the rationale behind the idea of the term happiness, and the positive and negative effects of those ideas. According to actionforhappiness.org, the best society is the one in which there is the least misery and the most happiness. While a common entity does not exist behind everyone’s happiness, exploration of many views is important through interviews and experiences.

One misconception of happiness is that materialistic things create longevity. Happiness is determined by experiences, perceptions, and events. The happiness accumulated from short-lived luxuries such as beauty, intelligence, and money dissipate quickly, according to psychcentral.com.

Instead, combining positive emotions and experiences with small pleasures in life will lead to happiness that is longer-lasting than the life cycle of any material possession.

The thirst to continue running on the “hedonic treadmill” is eliminated once exploration for happiness commences within oneself.

Four different paths identify the roads taken to achieve happiness. “Hedonism” is the pursuit of pleasure, “Eudemonia” comes from a life of aspiring to do well and make a difference, “Flow” comes from living a fully engaged life, and “Chaironic” happiness is generated from a sense of being blessed and feeling grateful. According to happycounts.org, every person uses different paths for different stages in life determined by these positive emotions.

The pursuit of pleasure inside and out is categorized into ten keys to happier living represented by “GREAT DREAM.” “GREAT” represents interaction with our outside world, starting with taking care of oneself. “DREAM” relates to our attitude in life, with success dependent on positivity. Actionforhappiness.org acknowledges that everyone’s path to happiness is different, and is a combination of experiences similar to the four paths.

The ten keys to happiness and four different paths emphasize the necessity for each person to have a different path, accumulating in something greater than any possession. It’s time to stop the hedonic treadmill and become aware of happiness within oneself unrelated to materialism. It’s also time to appreciate your path to happiness and share positivity.

Photo by Fabrizio Angius