Do you agree with these statements?
- Happiness is inborn. Some people are just born happy.
- Happiness is just an over-rated superficial feeling – adding no real value to your actual life condition.
- Happiness is fleeting. Negative emotions always trump positive ones.
- Happiness is a not goal you can set and achieve.
Hopefully, you recognized that all of those statements are misleading – if not downright false! Let’s look at them a little closer…
- Happiness is inborn. Misleading. There have been studies that indicate happiness may be 50% genetic, 40% intentional and 10% due to your personal circumstance. However, even from those statistics, we can see that a large part of happiness is down to personal choice. What’s completely missing is that this doesn’t take into account that lifestyle choices have been shown to alter us on a genetic level. We’re discovering that we’re no longer bound by our genetic expression if we want to choose something else. So happiness is 40%-90% based on your choices and lifestyle and only 10% on the situations you find yourself in.
. - Happiness adds no real value. False. Numerous studies have shown that happy people are more successful, more adventurous and creative, have better relationships, live longer and healthier and contribute more to society. How do YOU define “REAL VALUE?”
. - Negative emotions are stronger. Misleading. Although in the short term some studies have shown that we have a slightly stronger response to a negative stimulus than a positive one. Meaning that we feel sadder at losing $3 than we feel happy at winning $3. But the more positive emotions we experience, the greater “shield” we have against negative emotions. That means that as positive emotions are experienced more consistently, negative emotions – even in the moment – lose their impact.
. - Happiness is not a goal. Misleading. While it’s true that happiness is a journey, not a destination. That doesn’t mean it’s not a goal you can set and achieve. On the contrary, like good health, it’s a goal that you can reach by making the right choices. And by continuing to make the right choices you can maintain that happiness indefinitely.
Super cool!