Researchers have focused on questions such as “ what behaviours and attitudes positively affect happiness and self-fulfillment? Can we learn to be happy?

Surprising, happiness researcher Sonia Lyubomirsky discovered that only 10% of our happiness is due to our circumstances e.g. whether we are rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, beautiful or plain, married or divorced etc. The low contribution of circumstances to our happiness level is explained by the principle of hedonic adaptation i.e. in plain English, we get used to even the most marvellous and life changing circumstances , and within about 3 months we hardly notice the difference! 

50% of our happiness is in our genetic pre -disposition.  So this leaves us with the fact that a very large slice of our happiness levels (40%)is due to the way we think and behave, what Lyubomirsky calls intentional behaviour. And the good news is that we can change these!

Researchers have identified three types of “happy lives”

1)      The Pleasant Life– the life of pleasure (the hedonic life).Experience as many positive emotions as possible.  Savour and amplify those moments.

2)      The Good life –  flow, the life of engagement ( the eudaimonic life ). Using your signature strengths*, what is deeply characteristic of you, every day ie. much of your time is spent in flow, in being fully engaged in what you are doing.

3)      The Meaningful Life- much of your day is spent in pursuit of your strongest values, your “noble mission” , your overall “big goal” which gives meaning to everything you do and may involve an attachment to something larger than yourself.

 And finally, the advice of Ed Diener, happiness researcher: if you have no goal, other than than your personal happiness,you’ll never achieve it! If you want to be happy pursue something else vigorously, and happiness will catch up with you.

• to discover more of your own signature strengths, and participate in on-line research in positive psychology, you can log on to Martin Seligman’s site www.authentichappiness.com