How does happiness affect your mind?

Happiness is an emotion that arises through physical sensations (hedonia) and through the joy of reason (eudaimonia) from connections, gratitude, savouring.

Happiness or joy, a universal instinctive emotion, can arise in your mind with the joy of reasoning, or purpose and connections. It is termed eudaimonia. Scientific research has shown that feeling a greater connection and gratitude brings the feeling of happiness in physiological, mental and spiritual ways.

Generally, happiness is one of the more pleasurable emotions and a great focus is placed on attaining this state of being in many of the world’s societies. The World Happiness report, published by the United Nations, sponsored by Oxford University amongst many, has now been published for 10 years. As a result of all the studies and interest, the definitions of happiness have now come to include wider lifestyle factors whereas the term ‘joy’ may be more apt for the instinctive emotion you feel in the complex interplay of body, mind and soul. Before Darwin looked at emotion from an evolutionary physical survival perspective, philosophers from Plato, Aristotle to the modern Sonja Lyubomirsky, have focused on reaching happiness through the mind. As society has evolved from the Darwin evolution to emotional evolution, research has shown that our brains do not distinguish between social in our minds or physical happiness in our bodies, the physiological reaction is the same.

Some minds are more sensitive to happiness than others?

Like all instinctive emotions, universal to humankind, everybody’s mind is affected by happiness. The intensity of the emotion varies for different people, depending on your character, genetic make-up and experiences. A book by Lyubomirsky (2007) looking at happiness revealed that genes and circumstances do not matter as much as we think, 40 % of her happiness model is under the control of actions and thoughts. Given that all universal instinctive emotions, in physiological  terms only last a short while, training your thought systems to increase joy and happiness can be possible. 

Hedonic pleasures also happens in your mind 

‘Hedonic’, a term which comes from the ancient Greek for ‘pleasure’ refers to the pleasure that we derive from physical sensations.  Generally, the strongest drivers of hedonic pleasure are food and sex. Though involving the body, a strong proportion of enjoyment comes from what you think about the physical experiences through your mind. Though sex can be classified as a physical hedonic experience, it is actually the mind that is the biggest stimulation area in the body.  MRI and Pet scanning have revealed that an orgasm activates all parts of the brain, not just the instinctive emotional centre, in a gender neutral way. 

Physical addiction can result from hedonic happiness seeking

Some hedonic pleasures, such as alcohol, drugs, possibly food, can become addictive as the chemical pathways in your brain develop tolerance to the hormone ‘dopamine’, which is released when experiencing pleasure. Always seeking a short lived instinctive emotion through the body for pleasure or as a distraction from other thinking can lead to addiction.  This is a serious physical problem which requires professional support. 

Happiness in your mind is defined as eudaimonia 

Generally, it is agreed in the scientific and philosophy communities that physical pleasure is not the sole contributor to feelings of happiness. Before science adopted the study of feelings, philosophers over the centuries, such Aristotle, Plato or Kant, have addressed the ‘eudemonic’ perspective of happiness whereby the feeling is achieved by having meaning and purpose in life which is achieved through your mind and soul. Keeping yourself intellectually busy at your level is important for a state of mental happiness. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discovered what he termed a state of ‘flow’, an optimal state of happiness, in which your mind is so occupied that you do not notice time or your surroundings and yet are not too stressed. The US psychologist Abraham Maslow coined the name ‘metaneeds which are directed towards ‘metavalues’ such as truth, beauty, perfection, justice. 

Happiness in your mind can be achieved through social connections

Studies have proved that having social connections makes you healthier (Myers, 2000) and happier (Diener & Seligman, 2000). In Diener & Seligman’s study, those with close friends, strong family and romantic ties were happier. Close friends and strong family ties ranked higher than romantic relationships in the study. Connections with people you don’t know, even if you think you don’t want them, contribute to happiness, according to the study.  

Hedonic adaption in your mind reduces happiness

Scientific studies have shown that your mind adapts to feelings of joy or happiness, whatever the feeling is related to, from money to love. For example, in the case of marriage, after a few years, you adapt to the situation and happiness levels return to what they were before (Lucas et al, 2003,). Even in extreme cases of winning the lottery (Brickman et al. 1978), you get used to having more money and the joy of the event fades. Studies also show that if you are placed in situations of comparison, your mind affects your feelings of happiness. Again, in the case of the lottery, people who live next door to lottery winners are more likely to buy a new car (Kuhn et al. 2011, Dutch postcode). The belief systems in your mind, particularly ones that encourage gratitude, doing good for others, keeping connections in a community can help prolong your feelings of happiness. 

Training your mind can affect your happiness

Science says that it is possible to train your mind’s thinking into happy feelings. A book by Lyubomirsky (2007) looking at happiness revealed that genes and circumstances do not matter as much as we think, 40 % of her happiness model is under the control of actions and thoughts. Dr Laurie Santos in the Yale course on the ‘Science off Well Being’, identifies several ways, with examples of positive proof from scientific papers, to train the mind towards happiness. Many of these practices have been included in different religions over centuries, such as:

 ‘savouring’: is often used in religious practices, whether it be through the sense of smell (incense) or taste (honey during celebration of Torah) or simply encouraging you ‘to count your blessings’

‘gratitude’: thinking about the things that you are grateful for in life can contribute to your feelings of happiness.  

 ‘make this day your last’: thinking that you will not experience something again makes you feel happier. 

Instinctive emotions are like the weather, beyond your conscious control. For a balanced life, the first step is to understand human instinctive emotions, how they work and practical steps to take in order to avoid situations that are destructive to emotional wellbeing. Not every instinctive emotion that is acted on has positive consequences and it is the belief systems in your soul that can help filter your feelings and decision to act or not. Sometimes, it may be best to take shelter from the storm. Joy or happiness is an instinctive universal emotion but happiness has come to include wider lifestyle definitions, a state of being which lasts longer than an instinctive emotion. Like all emotions, happiness comes and goes like the weather. Science has proved that you can train your mind to happier thoughts which contribute to well-being but it is also human to have other instinctive emotions that cannot be ignored, such as sadness.