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What Sources Create True Personal Happiness?

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Taking together all the various theories and findings on happiness, we know that there are at least a few factors that are very important for overall happiness:
  • Individual income
  • Labor market status
  • Physical health
  • Family
  • Social relationships
  • Moral values
  • Experience of positive emotions (AIPC, 2011).

All of these factors can contribute to a happy life, but research has found time and again that good relationships are the most vital ingredient (Waldinger & Schulz, 2010). When we are happy in our most important relationships (usually our spouse or significant other, our children and/or our parents, other close family members, and our closest friends), we tend to be happier overall.
We have control over how our relationships go (in general), so that leads us to an interesting and important question: can we increase our own happiness?

Can an Individual Learn How to be Happy?

The answer from numerous studies is a resounding YES! You can indeed learn how to be happier.
The degree to which you can increase your happiness will vary widely by which theory you subscribe to, but there are no credible theories that allow absolutely no room for individual improvement.
In order to improve your overall happiness, the most effective method is to look at the list of sources above and work on enhancing the quality of your experiences in each one of them. For example, you can work on getting a higher salary (although a higher salary will only work up to about $75,000 USD a year), improve your health, work on developing and maintaining high-quality relationships, and finding ways to incorporate more positive feelings into your daily life.


Video from YouTube 
https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/what-is-happiness/

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