Measurement of happiness
Happiness is an evasive concept, sometimes fragile and sometimes acting like a monsoon. It weaves in and out of hobbies and passions, what is happiness and contentment one-year can sometimes be a nightmare a year later. After the pandemic we experienced, it has us challenging ourselves and pushing for new approaches to life and therefore prompting the question at the edge of our awareness: what does it mean to be happy and how do we achieve this state of mind?
There are a few avenues of academic thought in relation to happiness, for instance Buddhism indicates that happiness is in the present moment, the here and now. This practice can alleviate any past concerns or future worries by being focused on the present moment, regular practice sees happiness rising like a submarine emerging from the water. Present moment focuses on the interaction between self and environment, which opens the door to a sort of inner peace, an acceptance of the now. In Buddhism this is how happiness is found. Opposing this belief comes from Victor Frankl, a psychiatrist who spent time in Auschwitz as a prisoner in WW2. Through his theory of logotherapy he claims that unhappiness comes from an existential vacuum, a sort of lostness in the world where a person does not have meaning and significance. Aspects of Logotherapy suggest that happiness is found through significance and dedication in the work that you do, experiencing something significant and your attitude to life. These are external factors, whereas Buddhism claims happiness is found in the inner world. Backing that happiness is found in the inner world is Albert Ellis, a founder of one of the most widely used psychotherapies, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. C.B.T pushes you to question your interpretation of reality, especially negative view points.
“Reality is not so much what happens to us; rather, it is how we think about those events that create the reality we experience. In a very real sense, this means that we each create the reality in which we live”
Albert Ellis
There are many overlaps with Buddhism and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy such as acceptance and the ability to be flexible in your approach to life and how you think. However we can accept the current environment and be flexible in our thoughts but does that lead to happiness?
Playing chess there is not one single best move to win a game, there is however, many wise and clever moves coming from evaluating the particular situation on the board and knowing your opponent. This is like happiness there is not a one size fits all approach, there are many answers with some theories more applicable at sometimes in a our life span than others. CBT and Buddhism helps us accept and be flexible in our thinking but if we are not channeled in the right direction it can sometimes be very frustrating. I find that Victor Frankls theory and the search for meaning and reason in your existence is much more beneficial after such a paradigm shift after the pandemic.
In logotherapy, happiness comes from finding meaning in your life. Even in suffering meaning, can be found. Pre-covid, yes Buddhism and Cognitive behaviour therapy gave people an alternative view of the world, more accepting more understanding and more flexibility in their thought process.
Logotherapy offers a shift in perspective and prompts the question, what is your meaning? What is your purpose? Meaning can signify different things to different people. It pushes us to look at our values and get in line with those values, pre-covid a successful job, money and a healthy social life may have been your values. Post-covid are these gone? and if so, replaced with what? If nothing has replaced it you may be in an existential vacuum which is defined as:
“the inability to find or create meaning in life, leading to feelings of emptiness, alienation, futility, and aimlessness.”
Post pandemic there is a sort of tension, a tension with fitting the old self into the new world. But maybe what we are trying to achieve is not in line with our new values, are we trying to fit a round peg into a square hole? Trying to do the old things in a new world may be detrimental to your mental health. Facing the new world will have us face how we evaluate happiness and therefore how we measure happiness. A happy family, healthy and strong relationships, a healthy body, pushing your education further will yield the best results for happiness no matter what the environment. Yes, we collectively agree as a society that raising children right, living a healthy life providing for you family is what we value. Rooting down further, finding your own specific and unique purpose in things you value will create meaning and is greatly beneficial for mental wellbeing.
Finding meaning doesn’t have to be a massive thing, it can be small and may seem insignificant to others, but it gives you a purpose. If this is being creative, finding purpose in helping others, meeting friends regularly, gardening, or whatever the case. Failure to replace old values in a new world can lead to a sort of boredom and an existential vacuum.
Measuring happiness can be counterintuitive, what we may see as distress and conflictual during a task may bring great happiness on completion. Think of climbing a mountain, filled with tiredness and struggle through the incline, bringing a sense of achievement on the summit. Once we identify our meaning and values, we can then action them, we will feel a sense of belonging and purpose, therefore meaning.
Logotherapy pushes us to find something inside ourselves, something meaningful and worthwhile. A new world opens out in front us, we may be equipped with the old-world tool belt which may not have the right instrument for the job. Finding new meaning and purpose in your actions can be the missing piece that makes it whole again.