40 Benefits Of Happiness

A report published on the BBC website today shows a research carried out by scientists at the University of Edinburgh analysing celebrity Twitter messages in a bid to find out how happy the senders are.

The researchers believed the study could provide insights into the emotional well-being of the general population as they looked at word patterns in the tweets of 13 celebrities.

Basketball player Shaquille O’Neale ( woo hoo!!! I love Shaq) was said to be the happiest tweeter, followed by cyclist Lance Armstrong and television presenter Jonathan Ross (one of my favourites although the Andrew Sachs episode can’t be easily forgotten).

The rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg was the least happy. (Culled From The BBC Website)

The study, which was carried out in partnership with a technology firm, found that the majority of celebrity messages were happy and positive.

Hmmh!! I kept thinking about what I had read for a few minutes and then proceeded to ask my colleagues several questions with a view of gathering enough information for this topic.

This post focuses on the definition of happiness, what stimulates or promotes it and finally the importance and benefits.

What is Happiness?

Happiness is a state of well-being and contentment. It could also be a pleasurable, fulfilling or satisfying experience.

Dr. Martin Seligman believes happiness dissolves into three different ideas, each of which is separately buildable and measurable.

They are as follows:

a)     Pleasant life (having as much positive emotion and as little negative emotion as possible),

b)    The engaged life (being completely absorbed by the challenges you face at work, love, play etc.

c)      The meaningful life (knowing what you highest strengths are and using them to belong to and serve something that is bigger than you are.)

What promotes Happiness?

This section would focus on a list few things you participate in, experience, and indulge yourselves in order to derive happiness.

They are as follows:

• Good food lol!!!
• Making new friends or meeting new people.
• Counting your blessings.
• Positive interaction with spouses, children, friends, families, colleagues……..
• Showing genuine acts of kindness to different people.
• Exercising regularly.
• Engaging  in a hobby
• Being passionate about things that add value to your life.
• Although it’s slightly controversial but being wealthy or rich (living within your means) also promotes happiness.

…………………………Please note the list is endless…………………………………..

Once again the aim of this post is to define happiness, find out what promotes it and highlight the importance and benefits.

The words of Maxim Gorky constantly leave an echo in my mind; ‘Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.’

In no particular order here are 40 Benefits Of Happiness.

• True happiness makes you feel comfortable about who you are constructively.
• Happiness boosts your creativity
• It promotes a better mental health.
• It gives you a greater feeling of self worth.
• It gives you focus for living.
• It promotes commitment to work, family, goals…..
• It provides a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction.
• Happiness fosters forgiveness.
• It promotes altruism i.e. unselfish concern for the welfare of others
• It opens or creates an avenue for resolving failure constructively.
• It enhances your psychological and physiological well being.
• A dose of happiness is really therapeutic.
• If you are happy you are likely in the future to have less in the way of physical illness than those who are unhappy (Dr Derek Cox, Director of Public Health)
• Happiness improves your social life.
• It gives you a good feeling within.
• Happiness boosts positive thoughts and expectations.
• Happiness makes you flexible and easily adapts to change.
• Laughter thrives and grows on happiness
• Happiness serves as an energy booster.
• It creates job satisfaction and increases good performance in your workplace.
• It increases your level of productivity and personal growth.
• It aids in effective conflict management
• It creates and enhances successful relationships with you friends, family, colleagues….
• It lowers blood pressure reducing the impact of stress.
• It gives you peace of mind.
• Happiness increases the level of your motivation.
• It gives you self control, self regulation and further coping abilities.
• It creates a level of spiritual awakening and development.
• It promotes optimism.
• Happiness gives you a meaningful life
• Happiness brings about relaxation.
• It enhances positive and constructive communication with people.
• It enables you to handle and put your emotions in check.
• It boosts your self esteem and self confidence.
• It creates a positive anticipation of the future.
• It promotes resilience.
• Happiness promotes and supports your dreams
• It creates positive expectations.
• It sets your mood for the day.
• Happier people also have greater protection against things like heart disease and stroke.(Andrew Steptoe, the British Heart Foundation Professor of Psychology at University College London)

Would you make an effort to live a happy and fulfilled life despite the struggles and challenges of life?

I leave you with these words “Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.”(author unkown)

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Ayo Olaniyan is a certified Unitive Life Coach, an Accredited Professional Counsellor with the Counselling Society and the editor of The Life Skills Magazine. For further information, please complete this form.

Tagged as: bbc, benefits, happiness, happy, jonathan ross, life, seligman, snoop dogg