If You Want to Be Happy, Don’t Chase Happiness

"A new study published in Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences explains that obsessively focusing on happiness (or its lack) might be a permanent obstacle in your pursuit of it.

Instead, accepting your emotions as they are gives you a far better shot at unlocking true happiness.

One reason that scientists think that valuing happiness might backfire is that it might lead people to feel more disappointed at times when happiness is most within reach.

Zerwas cited a study where researchers showed one group of participants a fake newspaper article focused on happiness to induce valuing happiness while another group read about a topic unrelated to happiness. The study found that the people induced to value happiness were less happy than those in the other group.

Zerwas’ study focused on two different approaches people take when valuing happiness:

1. Aspiring to happiness. People who take this approach view happiness as a very important goal. This is quite harmless.
2. Concern about happiness. People who take this approach tend to judge whether they are happy enough. This tend to get in the way of happiness.

Based on these two approaches, Zerwas suggested that two elements of happiness can “make or break” its pursuit:

1. The strategies that an individual uses to pursue happiness matter.
2. The extent to which an individual feels badly about their emotions while pursuing happiness matters.

Zerwas also mentioned a couple of common fallacies that people run into that could set them up for disappointment:

• For one, people don’t always know what will bring them happiness which leads them to engage in strategies that are not actually useful.
• Additionally, societal pressures can sometimes encourage the fallacy that people must always feel happy to achieve greater well-being."
  

Read the complete article available at Psychology Today!

Reflection:

What does happiness mean to you? Are you chasing happiness or creating it?

*I choose to create happiness as it is easier than chasing it. Every little thing that happens, I celebrate! I create happiness by cultivating gratitude for every good thing that happens in my life. I think happiness is arbitrary and we can choose to be happy whenever we want to do so.*

#Happiness #Mindset #EmotionalRegulation