It seems only doom and gloom when we watch the news or read a newspaper.
It is foolish to think we can feel every happy moment in our lives, but is being in a state of happiness out of reach?
Definitely not.
Happiness is within our grasp, but it is acceptable to become consumed with negative feelings of doom and gloom occasionally.
In those times, we must ask, why is it important to focus on happiness?
Well, in this article, we’ll give you seven reasons why focusing on happiness in your life is essential.
Let’s start with a quick definition…
What is Happiness?
When going about my busy day, I stop to think, what is happiness? How can happiness be defined? These seem strange questions, but they help us better understand the core questioning about why happiness is important.
Oxford’s English Dictionary defines happiness as feeling or showing contentment or pleasure.
Given that happiness is an emotion and not a personality trait, understanding the meaning of true happiness without material items is paramount.
Material goods follow the Law of Diminishing Returns, which states that the more I experience something, the less rewarding it becomes.
However, happiness is a permanent feeling or emotion part of the human experience!
Why is Happiness Important?
While there are many components to a meaningful life, I have found that happiness is an important central core of feeling fulfilled. The science of happiness agreez with us.
A study conducted by the World Value Survey and World Happiness Report found a direct correlation between those who are very happy or rather happy and those with more satisfaction in multiple countries worldwide.
Although the science points to the relationship, happiness is not everyone's goal. Regardless, it is crucial because of the positive benefits of a general sense of happiness.
To better understand, let’s look at the seven reasons why happiness is so important in life:
1. Happy people are more successful.
We all think that “success makes us happy,” but it's backward. Instead, happiness makes us more successful in all life’s endeavors.
Happy people are more likely to ace job interviews and acquire better positions. They are also more positively evaluated by their superiors and show higher productivity and performance. The same holds for being better managers of others.
Furthermore, happiness makes us more productive employees while improving our aptitude for problem-solving.
Economists at the University of Warwick experimented and found that those primed for happiness were 12% more productive. While on the job, happy employees are less likely to show work burnout and disruptive behavior.
2. Happy people maintain better relationships.
Another critical aspect of life is fostering old and new relationships ranging from friendships to romantic involvement.
Relationships have been proven to be the most important factor for the continuation of the human species.
Happy people have better social support, more friends, and are generally more satisfied with group activities and friendships. The happiest college students tend to have the highest-quality relationships, are less jealous, and have stronger bonds with family members.
This is especially true for marriage. There is a strong link between happiness and satisfaction in marriage. Those with more happiness tend to be more content with their partner.
Like maintaining great relationships with friends and family, happiness fuels a good marriage, and the rewards can be amazing! This point is also related to idea #7, that happy people are more generous in that we are more willing to compromise and go the extra mile for our friends, family, and life partners.
Furthermore, it has been proven that happy people tend to be less violent. When you hear about a killer’s life, those who knew the individual rarely say they seemed so pleased.
Most happy people strive to make love, not war. That means when a disagreement occurs during a relationship—let’s be honest, it happens to us all—violence rarely ensues with happy people. They find a compromise or solution together, which further strengthens the relationship.
3. Happy people have less stress.
Happy people live longer and are healthier because of their lower stress level. There is a direct correlation between stress and illness and vice versa. When we get stressed, our cortisol hormone levels increase, typically accompanied by muscle weakness, higher blood pressure, and mood swings.
On the other hand, positive and happy feelings alter our chemical makeup, which lowers these levels. Happiness is the opposite of stress, so it isn't easy to have both simultaneously.
I work in a relatively stressful field, heavily dependent on timelines to make major launches. I will be the first to tell you that stress is sometimes difficult to manage, but I am generally a happy person and can find creative outlets that make me happy and relieve stress.
One is by engaging in kickboxing classes several times per week. It is an activity I love to do, makes me happy, and provides a great workout, all of which lowers or eliminates my stress!
4. Happy people live longer lives.
Logic dictates that if happiness has a positive impact on my health, then it will also extend my life. One study found a correlation between the life expectancy of a group of Catholic nuns and their initial emotions when they first started at the convent.
The happiest nuns lived 7-10 years longer than the unhappiest. This is one of many studies that confirm happiness is a critical component of living longer.
Couple that with regular exercise, eating healthy food, lowering stress, finding creative outlets, and fostering healthy relationships, and we can live long and healthy lives as happy people!
5. Happy people are more creative.
In addition to being more productive in life, happy people are more creative. Positive thinking and being open to new experiences and ideas are related.
This is because as our general mood becomes more positive, we can devise and envision creative solutions to various problems.
This counters the “tortured artist” idea, which postulates that the artistic community, which has higher rates of depression and other mental illnesses, is generally unhappy, which fuels creativity. There is little evidence of a connection between the two, but more evidence of happiness improving creativity.
When I am generally happier, I often access the creative side of my brain outside of work. I tend to lay in bed watching television less and draw, read, and write much more.
Yes, I love those rainy Sundays in the fall, snuggling under the covers and watching a scary horror film. There’s a place for those days, too, but I try to fill my time with more creative outlets. These creative activities tend to fuel my happiness even more, so it’s a win-win situation.
6. Happy people are healthier.
Happy people have proven to maintain better physical health, have fewer hospital and emergency room visits, and have fewer unpleasant physical symptoms. Also, we tend to use less medication, resulting in fewer work absences, which relates to point number one of being more successful. Better health typically relates to less overall physical pain.
Similarly, happy people have better mental health than others and have fewer symptoms related to mental diseases like schizophrenia, hypochondriasis, anxiety, social phobia, and depression.
Many of these mental health issues are tied to substance abuse problems, so, you guessed it, happy people are less likely to have a history of drug abuse.
Additionally, happy people are much more resilient than unhappy individuals. Resilience is our ability to bounce back and recover from challenging situations. The goal of happiness is to make the most of good times and effectively cope with the bad times that we all experience.
The result is living the best life possible, regardless of the situation. To truly be happy, we must learn to jump back up on the horse after falling off and return stronger than ever. This means eliminating the negative feelings that burden us during or after a tough situation.
Furthermore, there is evidence that negative emotions and general unhappiness can be harmful to our health. While limited research exists on the subject, it is difficult to determine if happiness has a positive effect on our immune systems.
Existing studies found that those with the most positive emotions had a lower probability of getting sick. This could also be due to other factors or to motivating ourselves to exercise, eat healthily, and maintain positive relationships.
7. Happy people are more generous.
Happy people are typically more prosocial, meaning they are more inclined to help others. A strong link exists between feeling happy and doing good for the community or the world.
This means higher participation in volunteering than unhappy friends, joining community service, religious, health-related, and political groups, and giving back to charity.
Helping others makes us feel good, and happy people often share their good fortune with those who are unhappy. I like to think that happy people make the world better for everyone!
Final Thoughts on Why Happiness is Important
Happiness is the most important experience we want for those we love, including ourselves. We always want to be happy and have those around us be happy in our endeavors. We need happiness for many more reasons than just feeling good occasionally.
This answers why happiness is important: it helps us be better people for ourselves, the ones we love, and our community.
Now that I have answered why happiness is important, it’s time for you to take action today!
Do activities that make you generally happy, whether painting, writing, drawing, kickboxing, jogging, listening to podcasts, spending quality time with your family or all of the above!
And if you're looking for more resources on happiness, check out these blog posts:
- 10 Best Happiness Apps
- 7 Important Reasons Why Happiness is a Choice
- Life Sucks? 11 Actions to Feel Better Moving Forward
- The 5 Excuses You're Using to Sabotage Your Happiness
- Happiness Hacks: 43 Quick Ways to Make Yourself Happy
- 27 Ways to Simplify Your Life and Focus on What’s Important
