Could you be happier? See what the science says

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• Adriana Drola

The usual pattern of happiness varies among people, but it is possible to increase the degree of life satisfaction, bringing it closer to the maximum. For this, it can be interesting to understand the activities that help you circumvent this innate programming to adapt to all that is good.

Let’s say you live on the first floor and have the opportunity to move into a penthouse. For some time, the beautiful views and the modernity of enjoying the sunset will bring changes in your well-being. You will live more grateful and positive. But live in the penthouse long enough and you’ll soon be back to the level of satisfaction you already had when you lived on the first floor.🇧🇷 The universality with which this dynamic occurs reveals that adaptation is not the result of ingratitude or arrogance. On the contrary, it is just a feature of human design.

Humans adapt to just about anything. And when I say almost everything – I mean almost everything. For example, measure happiness levels From the population over the years, scientists have found that we get used to it some time after winning the lottery, but also when we lose loved ones and even after becoming paraplegic.

We have a habitual pattern of happiness

Our satisfaction with life fluctuates like the temperature of the refrigerator. If you open the refrigerator several times during the day, the temperature will fluctuate as a result. But let it sit long enough and soon it will adjust to the temperature you set on the thermostat – say 4 degrees. In the same way, when an event occurs and changes in our lives, we are affected by an important change in our emotions. For a time, we are happier and more grateful, or more sad and anxious. However, you will soon return to your usual lifestyle of contentment.

It’s that The usual pattern of happiness It varies between people. On the other hand, some have large doses of positive effect and this remains more or less constant throughout life. These people feel very happy most of the time, good things bring them happiness and joy in abundance. At the other end are people who have the opposite behavior. They don’t feel satisfied or even comfortable most of the time. When they succeed, they do not jump for joy. Most of us are somewhere in between these two extremes.

Is it possible to become happier?

In fact, when we talk about the desire to experience positive emotions, the thing is somewhat predetermined. Studies show that people who report higher levels of happiness tend to have more brain activity on the left side of the prefrontal cortex than on the right side. These people are said to have won the cortical lottery, which means that their brains are pre-configured for happiness.

In fact, happiness is one of the most inherited personality traits. Research on identical twins reveals that at least 50% of our average happiness levels are explained by genetics.It has nothing to do with our life experiences.

It’s as if genes establish a range through which your base level of happiness is determined. Let me use the example of a refrigerator to show you how this works. In the refrigerator, the thermostat never has only one temperature option. In fact, it usually perceives a range, for example between 0 and 8 degrees. As well as for happiness. There is a definite set of possibilities and predetermined by genetics for each of us.

On the other hand, it is impossible to program the refrigerator to 15 degrees when the thermostat only considers the range between 0 and 8 degrees. So, if you’ve been getting up on the wrong feet for decades, you’re unlikely to become the happiest uncle down the road. But, within the possible limits, it is up to the customer to choose what suits his refrigerator. After all, there is a huge difference between 0 and 8 degrees. in another meaning, It is possible to increase the degree of your satisfaction with life, bringing it closer to the maximum.

One of the great researchers on the topic, Sonia Lyubomirsky, suggests that about a third of our levels of happiness are the result of our intentional activities, those under our control. Therefore, it is possible to have a more fulfilling life. Having said that, keep your expectations in check and be wary of generous promises. Remember that there is a limit to each of us.

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Two types of happiness

Some say this conversation is useless because this act of happiness is not a worthwhile goal. In fact, happiness has been on the dock for at least 2,500 years. It was Aristotle who revealed the concept by dividing happiness into two types🇧🇷 first happiness funIt is characterized by positive emotions and fun. That is, when, emotionally, you feel good – when you have more positive emotions than negative ones, relief is more than discomfort.

But remember that big gains in delicious happiness are by definition temporary, because we adapt to just about anything. Therefore, when we live life in search of this kind of happiness, we can develop addiction and compulsion for what will bring us our next dose of pleasure or escape from pain. An overestimation of pleasure and an inability to tolerate pain lead to compensatory, numbing, and isolating behaviors. in another meaning, Aim for happiness in life and you will find sadness in the long run.

Therefore, Aristotle recommended that we look for another type of happiness, which he called happiness. The good life or the good life🇧🇷 This genre is not marked by the intensity or valence of your emotions, but by the way you live your life.

I mean, the good life is not one in which you invest in external things, which will give you a temporary dose of pleasure – like matter and temporary emotions. The good life is the life in which you practice your virtues and thus expand them.🇧🇷

Associated with this kind of happiness, for example, life with purpose🇧🇷 Viktor Frankl is probably the best person to talk about it, suggesting that (pleasure) Happiness is a side effect of a meaningful life (eudaimonic happiness)🇧🇷 This is because we feel good when we develop our virtues and use them to add value to the world. We feel valued and belonged when we contribute to the causes or people we care about.

Of course, the pleasures of this life will not be as intense as the temporary pleasures of a life of pleasure. In fact, a meaningful life involves heavy doses of devotion to the other, hard work, and even resentment. But for many, this is the life worth living. Perhaps only an investment in a meaningful life can produce a fruit that will serve you for a lifetime. That is because your skills, accomplishments, and virtues are enduring internal traits that will lead to positive outcomes that cannot be taken away from you.

middle way

But when we talk about Life with pleasure and life with meaningIt may not be about one or the other, but about one and the other. I will explain. Many studies show that Moderate positive emotions increase our ability to pay attention and perceive🇧🇷 That is, when we are taken in by negative emotions, such as fear, we become less resilient, more prejudiced, and less able to understand what is happening to us in a broader way. For example, in fires, people often get hurt because they want to get out through the same door they entered. They forgot that a window can be a way out.

exactly the contrary, Positive emotions broaden our perspective and help us think🇧🇷 This is the basis for one of the most prominent theories in positive psychology, called “expand and build🇧🇷 According to Barbara Fredrickson, author of the theory, moderate and regular doses of positive emotions can increase our ability to build personal resources and skills. In other words, we build resources that expand our adaptability and help us move forward. Including literally. I was reminded of a study of elderly nuns in which researchers found that those who expressed the most positive emotions in early adulthood lived an average of 10 years longer than those who expressed those feelings the least.

There is a large body of research supporting Fredrickson’s theory. Some works show that a file Positive emotions help us build physical resources (such as health), social resources (such as friendships and support networks), intellectual resources (such as knowledge, ability to think about self and others, intellectual complexity and executive control), and psychological resources (such as resilience, optimism, creativity)🇧🇷

This means that as ephemeral the positive emotional states are, the personal resources that these states help us build are solid, they survive the fleeting emotional states that led to their acquisition.

A meaningful life where you invest in your well-being

Of course, if the north of the compass indicates only pleasure and joy, then you have great chances to live a meaningless life, interspersed with vices and absurdities. But if your goal is to build a meaningful life, you will certainly be more successful by adding activities to this existence that help you operate at the peak of your genetic potential for happiness.

Invest some time in an experiment Moderate positive feelings It can facilitate the development of your virtues and expand your ability to add value to yourself, others, and the world.

We may not even need science to understand this concept. We know intuitively that when we feel good, we do better. When we are healthy, we can better understand the wants and needs of others, we can identify better solutions to our problems, we can become more creative, and we collaborate better. We form bonds when we have fun together.

But I started this text by telling you that we adapt to just about everything. I mean, over time, things stop having a positive emotional impact on us. Therefore, to get closer to your fullest potential for happiness, it can be interesting to understand the activities that can help you circumvent this innate programming to adapt to all that is good. And for this, do not miss the following text.

More from Adriana Darla

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Adriana Darla 🇧🇷Tweet embed) holds a master’s degree in positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and a graduate degree in compassion-focused therapy from the University of Derby (England), where he served as mentors Martin Seligman, the founding psychologist of positive psychology, and Paul. Gilbert, the psychologist who created Compassion Focused. He talks weekly about psychology and the compassionate mind on his podcast man grows up🇧🇷

Read all of Adriana Drulla’s column on Vida Simples

* The texts of the columnists do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Veda Simplis.