The Psychology of Happiness: What Really Makes Us Feel Good?

Happiness. The feeling of elation when we laugh, the quiet joy of a good book, the warmth of a hug on a difficult day. Happiness is a feeling many of us are chasing, the search for happiness behind the daily efforts of most of our lives. Most people have some kind of goal they want to reach in life, a motivating force that they determine as their happiness, but is such a worldview beneficial?

Today, we're examining happiness, the psychology behind it, and what it takes to make people truly, meaningfully happy.

The Happy Brain

You could go and get a postgraduate diploma in psychology to understand the psychological recipe that creates happiness, but honestly, that seems like a lot of time and expenditure if you just want to know what we're about to tell you.

Happiness, like all emotions, comes from the brain. The brain has millions of what are called "Neurotransmitters." These are essentially the messenger molecules from one end of a synapse to another. Every thought and feeling you have is the result of a neurotransmitter being triggered to fire across a certain synapse, carrying information to parts of the brain that allow it to send the appropriate bodily signals. This includes pain, anger, sadness, and happiness.

Neurotransmitters work in conjunction with brain chemicals that tell them which information to pass along and which synapse to use. This is why when your brain chemistry is misaligned, you may face several difficulties that feel unique to you.

When you experience happiness, the brain produces one or a mixture of certain chemicals:

1. Dopamine: Your brain's reward system.
2. Serotonin: Provides an ego boost.
3. Oxytocin: Fosters feelings of love and connection.
4. Endorphins: Feelings of enjoyment.

So, if you're feeling struck by low self-esteem, it helps to do something you're good at, as this will increase serotonin and balance that self-deprecation. If you're feeling useless, then do the dishes and clean something, thereby releasing dopamine and battling your listlessness.

Pursuing Happiness

So, what does happiness look like? Does it just look like doing the opposite of whatever negative feeling you're going through at the moment?

The answer is a resounding yes...and no.

You see, the thing that baffles any solid definition of the "pursuit of happiness" is humankind's utter inability to define solidly what makes people happy. We know generally, but there will never be a single specific guide to making everyone on the planet happy. There are a few reasons for this.

The first is that there are just too many people, and all of them are different. The global population is around 8 billion, and even among like-minded social groups, everyone is an individual with a different lived experience and different emotional reactions. No two people are exactly alike, and so a guide to happiness for one person will always be different from a guide to happiness for someone else.

Second is that the option of happiness just isn't open to everyone. There exists a condition called "Anhedonia." It is often a symptom of depression and describes the inability to feel happiness or to experience positive stimulation from experiences. In some cases, this can be relieved through therapy and treatment, but the very nature of the condition discourages the work required to relieve it.

What We Do Know

Although there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach to happiness, there are several goals you can set that will allow you to better pursue happiness for yourself.

Understanding the brain's happy chemicals is key; understanding your values and your mood are the next steps.

To find what you value, there is a simple Cognitive Behavioural Therapy quiz that helps you understand a little bit more about who you are and what fulfils you. It's a resource designed to help you gain a more solid sense of identity, as well as give you a physical reminder of who you are and what you enjoy.

Next is to identify your moods. Recognising what state of mind you are in allows you to tackle problems directly through the use of the aforementioned brain chemicals. An emotion wheel can be a terrific tool to accurately identify your mood and help you plot a course for self-care that will allow you to brighten your day.

The Importance of Self-Care

Happiness, ultimately, has three separate driving theories behind it. The first, Hedonism, refers to the pursuit of pleasure. Happiness is derived from the constant acquisition of small, pleasurable moments. Eudaimonia is the second theory and posits that happiness is the maintenance of an overall feeling of satisfaction with life. The third is the Affective State Theory, which presents that happiness depends on a person's overall emotional state.

While these all seem to offer a piece of the puzzle, happiness is a matter of all three. If you experience no pleasure, you will be burdened by negativity and indifference, but pursuing pleasure at the cost of all else yields its kind of stress and develops a hollow existence. Although Eudaimonia accounts for overall life satisfaction, it can be argued that there is a difference between happiness and satisfaction. Your life may be perfectly satisfactory, but does that security make you feel elated? And though a person's overall emotional state is significant, there are many forms of happiness, some of them bittersweet and difficult.

Ultimately, looking at how happiness works rather than what it is will allow you to chase whatever "happiness" means to you. It's a nuanced subject and an even more nuanced feeling. Reject looking at your happiness through a communal lens. Instead, analyse who you are, examine your values, and act in accordance with what makes you feel most like yourself. Maintain relationships that allow you to self-actualise, pursue studies that interest you, and maintain hobbies and things that make you feel good about yourself.