By Mark Kaplan / February 29, 2020
What we first have to understand is happiness is not a human concept. It is Nature’s concept to trick/manipulate/induce humans to follow certain behaviors so they survive. Thriving is a bonus. A more practical term for happiness could be “achieving worthwhile goals”.
Happiness results from certain behaviors. The behaviors stimulate the chemicals Nature wants us to notice in our pursuit. These behaviors need to be repeated for our continued well-being and for the continuation of our species. Nature rationalized, why not make those behaviors feel good so that we will repeat them? We are really pretty simple.
Where We Get Confused
We know lots of things that will make us happy. Some are dreams or fantasies. The media, the movies, and cultures play upon our dreams sending us chasing after various ideals. Some of these ideals cross paths with real solutions, but we fail to separate one from the other.
Buying things for happiness might be a negative behavior. At the extreme it might be called “shopaholic” and we all have a touch of it until we get on the right path. Money, fame, and fortune are all wonderful ideals that can be realized, but they need the necessary first steps.
How Happiness Begins
Happiness is defined by science as the hormones and neurotransmitters of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. There are others but these are the main ones. When they are stimulated, we feel something maybe kin to a sugar high. If its your thing, think of how you feel after downing a big portion your favorite dessert. Aaaah!
The secret dessert we can experience every day is growth in areas Nature would call “survival opportunities”. My favorites are learning, creativity, contributing, health, and fitness. Each can create the happiness brain chemicals when we challenge ourselves with activities in each behavior category.
What Are Samples of Happiness Behaviors?
Many leaders say learning is a lifetime endeavor and our most important skill. Logically, if we want to advance in any endeavor, we have to learn more. Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Mark Cuban, Barack Obama, and countless others read every day. When we learn, we feel we are helping ourselves become more valuable in our work and maybe to others. This produces dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.
Creativity is how we advance. The feeling of solving problems or hatching a new idea that could help ourselves and/or others is autotelic (the reward is in the activity). When we have the intentions, actions, and results that could help our families, businesses, communities and mankind, we get oxytocin. Feeling good about our progress or helping stimulates serotonin, the good mood hormone. People use drugs to stimulate these same feelings.
Health and exercise optimize our body’s systems so that we have more energy, better immunity, and prolong our longevity. Nature is ecstatic with these efforts. Endorphin was originally intended to encourage us to run down game, but it can be emulated today with exercise that builds stamina.
How We Substitute Happiness Behaviors
We could live a lifestyle where we work hard, revert to negative behaviors for relief, like opioids, shopping, gambling, etc, and continue to strive for some mythical goal that will make the rest of our life a dream.
Or we could engage in behaviors each day that stimulate happiness and make each day a step toward greater rewards. Great habits accumulate our growth to the point we are more valuable and are rewarded with experiences that make us feel purposeful and give our life meaning.
Programming positive behaviors into time blocks each day prioritizes the growth activities we need for happiness. Each day I begin with creativity (writing) followed by exercise and leave time in the day for learning. My work and “to-do-lists” have to be completed, but my daily goal is my growth activities. Not only am I feeling good several times a day, but I am reducing the amount of time I could be stressed.
Read Habits of a Happy Brain by Loretta Graziano Breuning Ph.D
Read The Good Life Plan by Mark Kaplan See Excerpts
Read Creating Your Own Happiness- Lifestyle Self-Coaching Course by Mark Kaplan See Excerpts
Return to the Home Page
See Post Happiness, Fitness, and Mindfulness
See Post How We Enjoy Intensity without Stress
See Post Life Style and Work Life Balance
See Post Creativity Can Be Career Changing
See Post Increasing the Flow in Your Life
See Post Fitness Nutrition and Weight Management
See Excerpts for my Book “The Good Life Plan”
