These positive psychology insights will teach you how to become happy and how to live a happy life. Let’s backtrack a bit. People talk about happiness in many ways.



We hear and use sentences like “I’m looking for happiness” and “I’m searching for what makes me happy.” There is even a movie called “The pursuit of happiness.”



What is wrong with those sentences?

Happiness is not something you can find. It doesn’t exist anywhere for it to be found. It is not a destination. But, it is not a journey either! So what is it?

There must be some answer to the question – how to be happy?

There are times we ask ourselves – Can money buy happiness? Can love make me happy?

Short answer: No.

Slightly longer answer: Yes, money can help facilitate behaviors and activities that you can engage in to create your happiness. Love can also facilitate. But love isn’t the solution to unhappiness.

I’ll discuss this in the light of positive psychology research on happiness, fulfillment, and well-being. There are some really robust strategies you should know about. Hold on for a sec. First things first…





What is happiness? Learn how to be happy by understanding what happiness means.

A Typical answer – Happiness is a feeling*

A Psychological answer – Happiness is a state of mind with respect to your environment that endows you with a high frequency of positive emotions, constructive thoughts, and healthy coping with hard times.

*Notice how people often ask ‘how to feel happy?’

Let us get to the core of what science says about the concept of feeling happy.

Now that we’ve looked at the psychology definition of happiness, does it sound like it can be found? (think)

In the context of human psychology, a happy life is a creative process. The person who seeks authentic happiness ‘creates’ it.

When it comes to positive psychology (the study of well-being and quality of life), there are a few nuanced ways to look at happiness. In the context of scientific literature, authentic happiness is a subset of other factors like psychological well-being, eudaimonic well-being, life satisfaction, fulfillment, etc. While authentic happiness theories focus on what makes us feel good, well-being looks at life satisfaction, coping with positive and negative life events, physical and mental health, resilience, flourishing, etc.

Well-being is not just characterized by a lack of mental illness. It is a complex construct that addresses pain avoidance, quality of functioning, realizing one’s potential, happy feelings, pleasure, social aspects, personal growth, satisfaction, and meaning in life (Ryan and Deci 2001; Alatartseva and Barysheva 2015).

There are 5 types of well-being which are important in the context of happiness.

Eudaimonic well-being (Eudaimonia): Focuses on self-realization, meaning and purpose, and quality of functioning in life. Hedonic well-being: Focuses on gratification, pleasure, and pain avoidance. Psychological well-being: Focuses on personal mastery, autonomy, personal growth, positive relationships, meaning, and self-acceptance. Subjective well-being: Focuses on improving life satisfaction, positive emotions, and negative emotions. It is the cognitive, and emotional evaluation of one’s physical and mental life. Objective well-being: Focuses on behavior, interactions, and one’s place in society and the environment.

There is a simple feature-based model called the PERMA model which summarizes factors that contribute to happiness, life satisfaction, and improved quality of life. It is built by one of the most important contributors in positive psychology – Martin Seligman.

P – Positive Emotion E – Engagement R – Relationships M – Meaning and Purpose A – Accomplishment

Let’s now look at 8 actionable insights from scientifically conducted positive psychology research studies.

Note: Positive psychology is the study of human well-being, not just factors that make people happy. The science of happiness has evolved significantly based on understanding factors that improve the quality of life and overall life satisfaction. These strategies address 4 contexts – happiness, a better quality of life, improved life satisfaction, and overall well-being. They go hand in hand.





How to live a happy life: 8 Research-based strategies



How to be happy: an answer from positive psychology





1 Express gratitude to reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions

This is perhaps the simplest of all tips on how to be happier in this article. Expressing gratitude is all about being thankful for things other people do which help or gratify you in some way. It is actively acknowledging the effort put in by others and extending a warm ‘Thank you.’ One benefit is that while expressing gratitude, negative emotions like guilt, envy, and sorrow are deterred. During personal adversity or loss, thanking of any form helps cope with stress and grief. Thanking someone for their good deed encourages them to repeat a good deed and it even bolsters your motivation to do the same (Lyubomirsky 2007). Expressing gratitude is the first step you can take if you are unable to experience happiness for long periods of time.

Positive actions like expressing gratitude can also become a self-improvement force by increasing connectedness, humility, positive emotions, and negative emotions like indebtedness (Armenta, Fritz and Lyubomirsky 2017). Gratitude, specifically, is associated with engaging in positive behaviors that can promote overall wellbeing.

A meta-analysis of research studies shows that gratitude interventions promote psychological wellbeing (Davis et al. 2016). Gratitude interventions are deliberate activities centered around being thankful for the little and big things in life. Here are some ways to be thankful or express gratitude:

Make a daily list of things you are thankful for or maintain a gratitude journal Verbally tell others what you are thankful for Mentally acknowledge what you are grateful for Write thank-you notes





2 Cultivate optimism and reduce overthinking to find hope & clarity

Everyone suffers in some way and has disappointments in life. It’s a part of our existence to battle through tough times and emerge victoriously. Cultivating optimism is akin to being hopeful and striving to do whatever it takes to reduce your suffering so you can expect a better tomorrow. It’s a fight for a better future. The enemy of realistic optimism is overthinking. Overthinking can make you pessimistic by pushing you into a slippery slope of losing hope; and thereby, warrant an unnecessary focus on the negative aspects of life. It often prevents one from gaining insight into the problem and obscures positive outcomes.

If you want to stay happy and become a fully satisfied person, you shouldn’t ignore or deny negative emotions. Dealing with negative emotions and events can help build resilience. Dealing with ‘negativity’ in a healthy way is the key to sustain a happy life. Negative experiences can lead to constant preoccupation with negative thoughts. Such thinking lowers life satisfaction. However, regulating emotions constructively and forgiveness can improve life satisfaction (Eldeleklioğlu 2015). Just feeling happy and content once in a while won’t make you a happy person. The goal is to frequently experience happiness, satisfaction, and contentment; which means you have to accept and deal with negative emotions.

In the context of happiness, overthinking can get a little tricky. Many of us overthink with a hint of self-reflection and rumination (revisiting existing maladaptive thoughts). One study points out that constructive self-reflection can increase happiness but only when self-reflection does not lead to rumination (Elliott and Coker 2008).





3 Nurture and seek social bonds for overall well-being

This is one of the most taken-for-granted aspects of living. The brain is wired in such a way that our mental wellbeing is directly related to our social intimacy. Our species grows in society, not in isolation; as social bonding gives us a number of benefits. A system of mirror neurons (and/or other networks)* is dedicated to social cognition (Lacoboni 2008). Talking with people help us alleviate stress, cope with disasters and mitigate feelings of loneliness. Personal investment in building a relationship is a source of genuine happiness among people. If your day feels empty, put in some work to better your relationship with someone. Social relationships help you adapt to your environment with the least amount of stress even in situations involving death and heartbreak. Social bonds are fundamental to living a happy life and improve one’s subjective wellbeing (Zhu, Woo, Porter & Brzezinski 2013).

A study on a sample of over 5000 people from The Netherlands explored personality, positive and negative life events, and social support in the context of flourishing and wellbeing (hedonic & eudaimonic). The analysis showed that social support and positive life events are associated with flourishing and subjective wellbeing (Schotanus-Dijkstra et al. 2015). However, negative life events aren’t. This insight is quite important and should be highlighted. Intuitively speaking, it appears, with common sense, that negative life events can make one unhappy but the study did not find any link between wellbeing and negative events. This could be explained with the hedonic treadmill theory which states that life events (positive and negative) only have a short-term impact on mood, wellbeing, and the quality of life and these factors quickly return to the baseline. However, this doesn’t always happen because rumination and destructive self-reflection can negatively impact your potential to be happy.

*Special note: While mirror neurons are not conclusively proven to exist in humans, there are other neural networks which perform similar functions (Hickok 2009). Perhaps those mediate a social-emotional dynamic between people. Time will tell which pathways are involved.





4 Experience Flow for moments of pure life-satisfaction

You may have heard about people saying that they are in the zone: a period of intense concentration, satisfaction, temporal distortion and oneness of the thoughts and activities you are doing. Researchers describe this state, which has a high amount of intrinsic reward, as a ‘Flow’ state (Csikszentmihalyi 1990). This reward is biochemical in nature: neural excitation in pathways that involve endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin; resulting in ‘feeling good’ (Buckner 2014). Experiencing flow correlates with a number of desirable mood states: satisfaction, frequent pleasure, joy, etc. All of those make your life conducive to happiness.







5 Appreciate Beauty to increase positive emotions and recover from negative emotions

Our attention is limited and our brains choose what to ignore. Most objects in our environment are ignored unless they are distracting and/or important. Take a moment and notice the beauty of objects around you. Notice the architecture of your workplace or the scent of a flower. Deliberate effort to engross yourself in the appreciation of aesthetic qualities is a sure shot way to embrace pleasurable moments. It is only when you observe and look for the good you see the good. Listening to music is one easy way to get started on appreciating beauty and aesthetics.

While the research in this area is scarce in terms of long-term effects on happiness and wellbeing, there is evidence to show that appreciating beauty and excellence is positively associated with improved well-being, improved life satisfaction, positive emotions, and better recovery from negative mental states (Martínez-Martí, Hernández-Lloreda and Avia 2015).

Make an attempt to negate the confirmation bias as well. It is the tendency to selectively choose evidence that agrees with you. If you feel that the world is a grim place and life sucks, don’t look for evidence that proves your point. Look hard to find things you can appreciate. You will be able to live a happy life once you overcome the confirmation bias. Appreciating the beauty in all sorts of things can really open you up to frequent pleasurable experiences.





6 Participate in faith and meaningful activities to create a purpose

Empirical research (Lyubomirsky 2007) indicates that having a social/spiritual/religious belief system is positively correlated with having better wellbeing. This does not mean that you have to partake in religion. Any belief is fine if it makes you feel that you are a part of something larger, have something to look forward to, and something that promotes helping others. Man searches for meaning in different ways, even if it is the harshest of times (Frankl 1946). Whether you look at the universe from the point of view of a spiritual quest or science or religious scriptures, any point of view with a sense of meaning can bring you feelings of safety, purpose, and unity in the context of the bigger picture.

Hobbies can be meaningful activities and research shows that such meaning can be a source of positive mood states. Singing and swimming, for example, can improve your mood, reduce stress, manage heart rate & blood pressure, and increase your energy (Valentine and Evans 2001). Daily time spent on leisure activities is linked to higher subjective wellbeing (Heo et al. 2010). The takeaway is pretty straightforward – spend time doing something you enjoy and find meaningful. That will ensure an increased likelihood to experience positive mood states. Serious leisure is about having a sense of fulfillment and sincerity. Research shows that leisure can promote global subjective wellbeing which can enable you to experience authentic happiness (Newman, Tay and Diener 2013).

A study conducted on over 13,000 subjects showed that pleasure, engagement, and meaning predict subjective wellbeing (Schueller and Seligman 2010). Researchers also found that pleasure, engagement, and meaning predict wellbeing differentially. Pursuing engagement and meaning contribute more to subjective wellbeing than pursuing pleasure. Another study investigated daily diary records and found that people who partake in inherently meaningful and engaging endeavors improve their wellbeing more than those who partake in activities for pure pleasure/hedonic value (Steger, Kashdan and Oishi 2008). In fact, such eudaimonic activities can improve wellbeing the very next day.

Being a part of something bigger than yourself and investing time in meaningful activities can dramatically improve the quality of your life and eventually make you happy.





7 Take care of your body to improve well-being

It may be a cliché to say “A Healthy body makes a healthy mind”, but nevertheless, tonnes of research supports this notion (Fox 1999). Exercise releases endorphins which make you feel revitalized. Another aspect is that your body image (how you perceive your body to be) is directly related to your sense of self and affects your self-esteem (attitude towards oneself). The better you feel about how you look, the better you feel about yourself. A simple goal you can maintain is exercising your body in fresh air 3 to 4 times a week. Taking part in a sports activity, jogging or walking for 30 minutes, or even Yoga and Pilates at home can do wonders for how you feel about yourself. So to be happy, physically be healthy and see your body in a positive light.

If you think your happiness is tied to your body, go ahead and take control of what you can. The rest only needs to be accepted. Staying happy requires staying happily in your body.







8 Address social and biological feedback systems to gain control of your well-being

A part of the human condition is a mechanism which is popularly called ‘Fake it until you make it’ (Hanna 2010). You must’ve heard the popular notion that simply smiling or acting extroverted can make you happy. Is it true? After a lot of back-and-forth between conflicting results, a meta-analysis of 138 studies shows that smiling on purpose can make you happier. This happens via facial-feedback where information derived from facial expressions inform and modify a mental state. The link between extroversion and well-being is not as simple as that between smiling and happiness because social support, sharing of emotions, assertive and deliberate behavior can uniquely contribute to overall well-being. The extroverted/outgoing personality characteristics can be both faked and learned.

If you do these a few times, you can reap the benefits. Simply tell yourself that you are having a good day and you could have one. However, the smiling effect is mild and highly variable (Coles, Larsen and Lench 2017). Smiling can uplift your mood and make you happy but it isn’t a panacea for sadness.

A stooped seating posture enhances negative emotions (Veenstra, Schnieder, Koole 2017). You don’t want that. Instead, make it a habit that you walk and sit upright. An upright posture can help you recover from negative mood states as well.





A book that’ll teach you how to be happy

These techniques are based on this excellent book called the ‘How of Happiness’ by Sonja Lyubomirsky. The book is quite exhaustive, scientifically reliable, and is held in high regard in the positive psychology industry. Click the link below to buy it from Amazon. Trust me, you’d find it extremely insightful. She is The researcher who has extensively studied how to live a happy life and consolidated scientific tips on how to be happy.



Click the image below to purchase the book.

Note: This is an affiliate link. If you buy the book, I get a commission. But, you don’t get charged extra.





Summary:

Learn to express gratitude, reduce overthinking, cultivate social bonds, take a liking into the arts, take care of your body, adhere to a way of life (science, Buddhist, hippie, etc.), put on a happy demeanor, and experience flow. These strategies will teach you how to live a happy life and stay happy







Works cited:

Buckner, Clark. 2014. 4 Chemicals That Activate Happiness, and How to Gamify Them. July 11. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://technologyadvice.com/podcast/blog/activate-chemicals-gamify-happiness-nicole-lazzaro/.

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. 1990. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York City: Harper & Row.

Fox, Kenneth R. 1999. “The influence of physical activity on mental well-being.” Cambridge University Press 411-418.

Frankl, Viktor. 1946. Man’s Search for Meaning. Vienna: Verlag für Jugend und Volk .

Hanna, Julia. 2010. Working Knowledge: The thinking that leads. September 20. Accessed January 28, 2016. http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/power-posing-fake-it-until-you-make-it.

Lacoboni, M. 2008. “Imitation, empathy, and mirror neurons.” Annual Review of Psychology 653-670.

Lotte Veenstra, Iris K. Schneider & Sander L. Koole (2017) Embodied mood regulation: the impact of body posture on mood recovery, negative thoughts, and mood-congruent recall, Cognition and Emotion, 31:7, 1361-1376

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. 2007. The How of Happiness. London: Penguin Press.

Hickok G. 2009. “Eight problems for the mirror neuron theory of action understanding in monkeys and humans.” Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 21(7), 1229–1243. doi :10.1162/jocn.2009.21189

:10.1162/jocn.2009.21189 Zhu, Xiumei, Sang Eun Woo, Caitlin Porter, and Michael Brzezinski. 2013. “Pathways To Happiness: From Personality To Social Networks And Perceived Support”. Social Networks 35 (3): 382-393. doi :10.1016/j.socnet.2013.04.005.

:10.1016/j.socnet.2013.04.005. Valentine, Elizabeth, and Claire Evans. 2001. “The Effects Of Solo Singing, Choral Singing And Swimming On Mood And Physiological Indices”. British Journal Of Medical Psychology 74 (1): 115-120. doi:10.1348/000711201160849.

Heo, Jinmoo, Youngkhill Lee, Bryan P. McCormick, and Paul M. Pedersen. 2010. “Daily Experience Of Serious Leisure, Flow And Subjective Well‐Being Of Older Adults”. Leisure Studies 29 (2): 207-225. doi:10.1080/02614360903434092.

Schueller, Stephen M., and Martin E.P. Seligman. 2010. “Pursuit Of Pleasure, Engagement, And Meaning: Relationships To Subjective And Objective Measures Of Well-Being”. The Journal Of Positive Psychology 5 (4): 253-263. doi:10.1080/17439761003794130.

Coles, Nicholas Alvaro, Jeff T. Larsen, and Heather Lench. 2017. “A Meta-Analysis Of The Facial Feedback Literature: Effects Of Facial Feedback On Emotional Experience Are Small And Variable”. doi:10.31234/osf.io/svjru.

Newman, David B., Louis Tay, and Ed Diener. 2013. “Leisure And Subjective Well-Being: A Model Of Psychological Mechanisms As Mediating Factors”. Journal Of Happiness Studies 15 (3): 555-578. doi:10.1007/s10902-013-9435-x.

Elliott, Irina, and Suzanne Coker. 2008. “Independent Self-Construal, Self-Reflection, And Self-Rumination: A Path Model For Predicting Happiness”. Australian Journal Of Psychology 60 (3): 127-134. doi:10.1080/00049530701447368.

Schotanus-Dijkstra, Marijke, M. E. Pieterse, C. H. C. Drossaert, G. J. Westerhof, R. de Graaf, M. ten Have, J. A. Walburg, and E. T. Bohlmeijer. 2015. “What Factors Are Associated With Flourishing? Results From A Large Representative National Sample”. Journal Of Happiness Studies 17 (4): 1351-1370. doi:10.1007/s10902-015-9647-3.

Martínez-Martí, María Luisa, María José Hernández-Lloreda, and María Dolores Avia. 2015. “Appreciation Of Beauty And Excellence: Relationship With Personality, Prosociality And Well-Being”. Journal Of Happiness Studies 17 (6): 2613-2634. doi:10.1007/s10902-015-9709-6.

Eldeleklioğlu, Jale. 2015. “Predictive Effects Of Subjective Happiness, Forgiveness, And Rumination On Life Satisfaction”. Social Behavior And Personality: An International Journal 43 (9): 1563-1574. doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.9.1563.

Steger, Michael F., Todd B. Kashdan, and Shigehiro Oishi. 2008. “Being Good By Doing Good: Daily Eudaimonic Activity And Well-Being”. Journal Of Research In Personality 42 (1): 22-42. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2007.03.004.

Armenta, Christina N., Megan M. Fritz, and Sonja Lyubomirsky. 2017. “Functions Of Positive Emotions: Gratitude As A Motivator Of Self-Improvement And Positive Change”. Emotion Review 9 (3): 183-190. doi:10.1177/1754073916669596.

Davis, Don E., Elise Choe, Joel Meyers, Nathaniel Wade, Kristen Varjas, Allison Gifford, and Amy Quinn et al. 2016. “Thankful For The Little Things: A Meta-Analysis Of Gratitude Interventions.”. Journal Of Counseling Psychology 63 (1): 20-31. doi:10.1037/cou0000107.

Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. 2001. “On Happiness And Human Potentials: A Review Of Research On Hedonic And Eudaimonic Well-Being”. Annual Review Of Psychology 52 (1): 141-166. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.141.

Alatartseva, Elena, and Galina Barysheva. 2015. “Well-Being: Subjective And Objective Aspects”. Procedia – Social And Behavioral Sciences 166: 36-42. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.479.









P.S. Long-term happiness might seem alien to people if they are depressed. I’d like to clarify that depression is Not the opposite of feeling happy.

If you have friends or family members whose well-being is compromised, it might be possible that they are depressed. Read the following articles to know how to talk with them.

What not to say to depressed people

What to say to depressed people

Hey! Thank you for reading; hope you enjoyed the article. I run Cognition Today to paint a holistic picture of psychology. Each article is frequently updated with new research findings. I’m an applied psychologist from Pune, India. Love sci-fi, horror media; Love rock, metal, synthwave, and pop music; can’t whistle; can play the guitar.