5 Things Happy People Do

Sages going back to Socrates have offered advice on how to be happy, but only now are scientists beginning to address this question with systematic, controlled research. Although many of the new studies reaffirm time-honored wisdom ("Do what you love," "To thine own self be true"), they also add a number of fresh twists and insights. We canvassed the leading experts on what happy people have in common--and why it's worth trying to become one of them:

They find their most golden self. Picture happiness. What do you see? A peaceful soul sitting in a field of daisies appreciating the moment? That kind of passive, pleasure-oriented--hedonic--contentment is definitely a component of overall happiness. But researchers now believe that eudaimonic well-being may be more important. Cobbled from the Greek eu ("good") and daimon ("spirit" or "deity"), eudaimonia means striving toward excellence based on one's unique talents and potential--Aristotle considered it to be the noblest goal in life. In his time, the Greeks believed that each child was blessed at birth with a personal daimon embodying the highest possible expression of his or her nature. One way they envisioned the daimon was as a golden figurine that would be revealed by cracking away an outer layer of cheap pottery (the person's baser exterior). The effort to know and realize one's most golden self--"personal growth," in today's lingo--is now the central concept of eudaimonia, which has also come to include continually taking on new challenges and fulfilling one's sense of purpose in life.

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Comments

[fcsakes]

10:27 AM on 09/21/2008

Just as so many people confuse lust and love, I suspect a great many people confuse happiness and that fake little thrill when purchasing yet another toy or piece of bling. You'll know the difference when you know the difference.

[RedBlue7]

02:23 PM on 09/07/2008

4 Reasons Democrats have everything to gain from the rise of
Sara Palin in National Politics.

AND

4 Reasons Democrats & Obama Campaign should praise
Sara Palin for being a 'DO-GOODER' politician.

http://www.e-paperview.com/4reasons.html

[AProudRepublican]

02:39 PM on 09/07/2008

Those are good reasons, but how about spelling her name right?

[truthynesslover]

03:25 PM on 09/07/2008

Painlin?

[fairwitness]

02:01 PM on 09/07/2008

It's probably worth mentioning that the inner, "golden" self also appears in many of the world's wisdom traditions as a reference to our essence, our ultimate "true nature", our most basic reality, as not a thing (the conventional, individual self we are programmed with from birth and so habitually think we are) but consciousness itself, and most essentially the consciousness that is Being itself. The "Ground of Being", or, in shorthand, "God".

So the idea that happiness is to found by way of inner discovery uses the rather superficial, rather "selfish" quest for a personal happiness as a way to lead to what is not personal at all, but a realization that the self we've thought we are has always been a convincing illusion and that we are each non-personal, non-seperate expressions of "The One". That we are not object but, most esentially, subject.

I think we all have this intuition--that we are not ultimately seperate individuals but temporarily seperate-appearing expressions of one greater Being. And this intuition leads us to pursue happiness, albeit usually in ways that don't satisfy for long. But the underlying impetus, our urge for "more" and "better" experience of ourselves is the movement of that greater Being seeking to know itself. Awakening, as it were, from the dream of self-hood into an awareness much different than we ever imagined possible: undivided, deathless self-presence, that "Golden Self" the Greeks idealized.

[Kaos911]

01:48 PM on 09/07/2008

5 Things Happy People Do? Vote for Obama :)

[princessofnowt]

12:26 PM on 09/07/2008

What?
Happy happy joy joy
go shopping.
happy.
fun at beach.
happy.
USA USA USA
happy.
DRILL BABY DRILL
happy.
:)
have a nice day!

(do i have to qualify that I am being sarcastic? )
(happy happy joy joy to you too, citizen)

[charon]

12:15 PM on 09/07/2008

Socrates was no sage, he was a critic. And more than giving advice about how to be happy, he questioned what "happiness" really was.

[whatsthatsound]

01:47 AM on 09/07/2008

Why do all these articles present themselves as lists? "The five things", "the seven steps", etc. I for one would be "happy" to see these things presented in less formulaic ways.

[fpa12]

01:08 AM on 09/07/2008

Gabrielle LeBlanc's article is thoughtprovoking and useful. Her last point about allowing yourself to be happy is perhaps the most important one. But how do you do that if you are dissatisfied with your mate or your job or your financial situation? There is a great book, "Get Satisfied" by Carol Holst and Peter Whybrow, M.D., that provides many answers on how to find "the satisfaction of enough", with actual stories of people who have done just that and now are leading happier lives.

[AProudRepublican]

08:07 PM on 09/06/2008

This is a good article and has good points, but I think there needs to be a good balance between hedonic happiness and eudaimonic happiness. I say this, because our culture puts "so" much emphasis on "be all that you can be," that I think in many ways, we put too much pressure on ourselves. Yes, we should strive to improve ourselves and give to our communities, but we should also take the time to sit back and smell the roses. And, eudaimonic happiness doesn't always need to be "grand scale." Simply learning to play an instrument, learning to cook healthfully, or learning to garden are all ways to live out more of your potential.

So, to sum up the article... I'd say one would do alright if they took part in simple things to do each day they enjoy, like reading, and found a couple things to self-improve upon, like learning a new language, or learning to play the guitar.

The article briefly mentions gratitude, and this is absolutely vital to happiness!!! All the latest studies back this up. First thing upon waking up, remind yourself what you're grateful for. Whatever your situation, you have things to be grateful for.

And of course, one can't truly be happy without love and compassion for others. This is probably more important than any others factors mentioned. If we don't love ourselves and others, we really do have nothing.

[knerd]

01:37 PM on 09/06/2008

I'm no "Cwistian," but I would like to point out that biblical scholarship has long pointed out that this same inner/outer dichotomy was explained and commented on by Jesus of Nazareth as well.

He derided the Pharisees for paying more attention to the purity of "the outside of the cup" rather than the inside. And, of course, the Galilean was always up for an insightful ripost against hypocrisy in all its guises.

[JennyJay]

10:56 AM on 09/06/2008

Joy and happiness, personal fullfillment - - - - Wow! I sure would love some of that.
But first comes, getting and/or keeping a job. Paying for the gas to get to that job.
That same job that a woman is paid 1/4 less than the men she works with.
And the peace of knowing you or your family had health insurance - if ever needed.
Joy and happiness is a long, long way down the list in most American's lives these days.
Survival is pretty much our top concern lately. --- Happiness? ---- Naw, not much chance.

[huffy2001]

12:32 PM on 09/06/2008

See, that's all that "if only" stuff happy people don't think about. You know...like Cindy McCain. I bet she never lets the price of jet fuel get in the way of enjoying her private jet. Or her seven houses. Or $300,000 outfit. You're just another whiner in a nation of whiners.

[peterg76]

08:44 AM on 09/06/2008

"They find their most golden self." All this time I was trying to find my most turquoise self - no wonder it wasn't working

[huffy2001]

12:32 PM on 09/06/2008

LOL

[shiversandchills]

11:55 PM on 09/06/2008

Yeah, I was going for cerulean myself. Good one. ;)

[BruntLIVE]

07:50 AM on 09/06/2008

No comment here because 90% of America is unhappy and actually loath happy people or anything happy, Happy hurts.

[Bush 08]

05:51 PM on 09/06/2008

brunt might have a point, esp if you look at the most successful sitcoms etc- Seinfeld comes to mind. unhappy people hate happy people, but that shouldn't stop you from trying to find your own happiness...

nice article from the church of O :)

[mrned]

01:28 PM on 09/08/2008

What if I don't wish to be happy? A question my old colleague and friend Steve Wright once posed.

[shiversandchills]

12:07 AM on 09/07/2008

Oh Dear, Happy Hurts. That sounds like a sound bite, and something I would see as a tagline at the end of someone's e-mail. 90 percent is definitley pessimistic. True "eu" happiness? People have it. They just might not know they have it deep in the "golden" well spring of self, thanks to instant self-gratification and city/suburban living when something comes up that requires depth of feeling it's either time for dramtis persona, the chance to put on a show and be a local celbrity soap opera, soap box or otherwise or they act like a kid who realizes there is no god err, Santa Clause, Virginia. Just a little growing up to do .We humans are still very new on the planet (unless you go in for weird New Age theories) and we have a lot of growing and evolving to do.
Yeah.