When did you stop thinking —
and start just reacting?

Nothing could be as beautiful as what we have in todays world when we can have everything in the brisk time with just one click. Timeline between desire and achieving the same has reduced drastically with the advancement we have today. Still we are in era with epidemic of depression and business of Happiness is thriving like anything. The NIMH Trusted Source estimates that 19.4 million adults in the United States had at least one major depressive episode in 2019. More and more our life is becoming easier, more this epidemic is growing which most of the time is not visible until spoken about it. Today
Mental wellness industry has grown like anything and Global Wellness Institute Finds Mental Wellness Is a $121 Billion Market which is huge and it has been talked about a lot during Since Covid period. All these are growing in the name of Happiness and wellness but what exactly is Happiness ?? Happiness is defined as “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile by Sonja Lyubomirsky. It means it is an experience of emotion which changes over time with change in experience and thus it can’t be found or discovered. Rather we should be prepared for and cultivate better life each moment which makes it meaningful thus experience of joy. Although everything is not in our control which is clear in below pie but still major chunk is in our control.

Dan Gilbert in his book Stumbling on Happiness mentions that there are 2 types of Happiness which are Natural Happiness and Synthetic Happiness. Natural happiness is what we get when we get what we want and Synthetic Happiness is what we make when we don’t get what we want. He mentions that synthetic Happiness is as real as Natural Happiness. Synthetic Happiness in our society is considered to be as inferior kind as is not aligned with economic growth how will it be when not getting something will make you as happy as getting.

Lets focus on Synthetic Happiness which is to create or synthesize Happiness with what you have. In the experiment Dan Gilbert did with some students found that freedom of choice is the enemy of Synthetic Happiness which means People prefer to make changeable decisions rather than unchangeable decisions because they do not realize that they may be more satisfied when decision cant be changed. In simple words you are more happy and satisfied when there are limited choices. Unlimited choice may give you instant boost of happiness but in long term it goes back to same normal level and this phenomena is also called Hedonic adaptation. So in the pie chart it is clear that happiness is 50% Genetics , 10% is life circumstances but a major chunk i.e. 40% are Intentional activities which means a big part of happiness is in our control. But how to choose those activity and more than that equally important is to eliminate those which do not make you happy. We all should to create a portfolio which helps us to choose the activity and more importantly eliminate the one which does create value for us. We can call it Happiness Cultivation . There are 4 elements which may help to cultivate happiness as listed below

• Flow – In Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s words, flow is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. This is different for different people but it basically means going deep within where one don’t realize the passing time and enjoy the moment. This could be thinking about transcendental and which is beyond this world like meditation, praying and paying gratitude. This could also be creativity for some people where they get fully immersed and get maximum satisfaction. It could be spending time with your loved one and many more. It is important to understand about what takes you to flow state.
• Relationship – In one of the longest research by Harvard found that “Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives”. It is not about the quantity but quality of relationship with family and friends which is key to happiness. Having solid relationship with family members very very important. They also found that good relationship not only benefit physical health but also brain health. So it is really important to invest in the relationship as much as you can. Investment in relationship is very well explained by Stephen covey as “Emotional Bank account” which is applicable for all types of relationship.
• Community – Community is group of people sharing common interest. This element of Portfolio can be said as extension of previous as the basis of community is relationship with them. Most important aspect towards community is being responsible and generous towards them and if required being ready to help & support the community when needed. The Purpose of relationship in any community should never be seeking anything or expecting anything but it has to be more about CO-ELEVATION which means transforming together and complementing each other for growth.
• Purposeful Work – This is one of the most important element as significant amount of the time is spent in our workplace. Many researches have already found that Purposeful work gives more satisfaction and engagement towards work. The choice of work has to be involvement in a problem which you want to solve or rather you are meant to be solved. It could be either entrepreneurship or working in company where individual Purpose is aligned to the Organization Purpose. This is also important as Purposeful work helps to build community where people share common interest and it leads to solid and strong relationship. It also takes one to flow state as you are immersed in problem solving.