Happiness (with a capital "H")
From the Happiness PhD Project with Jackson Kerchis...
What we really want is “Happiness with a capital H”…
This is an important point about happiness that’s distinct from a lot of the “positive thinking” and other BS out there. It starts with – “okay, well what do we mean by happiness?”
Happiness (with a capital H) is expansive: deep enough to include within it the full spectrum of human experience and present across time (past/present/future).
Isn’t that an odd thought? Happiness exists across dimensions of time…
Happiness in the present moment is positive emotion: pleasure, joy, love, etc.
Happiness with the past is satisfaction or contentedness.
Happiness for the future is hope and excitement.
I posit Happiness means (I) stepping back to look at your life as a whole brings happiness, (II) your day-to-day life includes experiences of happiness, and (III) you feel happiness regarding the future.
You can be happy with your life, in your life, and for your life… There’s some subtle variation here. And they’re all important.
Past-centric happiness is often articulated as life satisfaction. As far as things we can at least partially influence, it comes from achievement, sense of meaning, relationships, and life circumstances. (1)
Present-centric happiness is just about any positive emotion. Positive psychology researcher, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson developed a model which she calls the “big 10 emotions of happiness” (2). It includes Love, Joy, Gratitude, Serenity, Interest, Hope, Pride, Amusement, Inspiration, and Awe. Investing time into experiences which bring these positive emotions (as opposed to focusing on the emotions themselves!) is what Dr. Lahnna Catalino calls “prioritizing positivity,” and it’s a proven approach to the good life. (3)
Future-centric happiness is positive outlook or optimism. Importantly, psychology research has found that optimism is learned. Very creatively — this is called “learned optimism” (4). Dr. Martin Seligman explains outlook comes down to our perception of “3 Ps”. We can view negative things as permanent, pervasive, and personal. For example, you are late for a meeting due to traffic, so you say, “I’m always going to be late, I’m so disorganized, I’m an idiot”. You just took a one time, context-specific thing, driven by external events (traffic) and made it permanent, pervasive, and personal. By intentionally shifting our perceptions to focus on negative events being temporary, not universal, and impersonal we can learn optimism.
These are the “macronutrients” of happiness across time: past, present, and future.
But that’s not enough. Capital H Happiness is spacious. It’s deep. Just like the depth of the ocean contains the waves on the surface, this Happiness is profound enough to hold the multitudes of the human condition…
Zen master Suzuki Roshi said it best.
Do you know this famous koan? A monk asked a master, “It is so hot. How is it possible to escape from the heat?” And the master said, “Why don’t you go to a place where it is neither cold nor hot?” The disciple said, “Is there a place where it is neither cold nor hot?” The master said, “When it is cold you should be cold buddha. When it is hot you should be hot buddha.” You may think that if you practice zazen you will attain a stage where it is neither cold nor hot, where there is no pleasure or suffering. You may ask, “If we practice zazen is it possible to have that kind of attainment?” The true teacher will say, “When you suffer you should suffer. When you feel good you should feel good.” Sometimes you should be a suffering buddha. Sometimes you should be a crying buddha. And sometimes you should be a very happy buddha.
This happiness is not exactly the same as the happiness that people usually have. There is a little difference, and that little difference is significant. Because buddhas know both sides of reality, they have this kind of composure. They are not disturbed by something bad, or ecstatic about something good. They have a true joy that will always be with them. The basic tone of life remains the same, and in it there are some happy melodies and some sad melodies. That is the feeling an enlightened person may have. It means that when it is hot, or when you are sad, you should be completely involved in being hot or being sad, without caring for happiness. When you are happy you should just enjoy the happiness. We can do this because we are ready for anything. Even though circumstances change suddenly, we don’t mind. Today we may be very happy, and the next day we don’t know what will happen to us. When we are ready for what will happen tomorrow, then we can enjoy today completely… (5)
Happiness includes the light and dark melodies, stormy nights and gentle breezes, and rising and falling waves that make the human condition what it is. Happiness contains multitudes.
There are many ways happiness can appear: as satisfaction, as positive emotion, as optimism or excitement, and even in the many melodies of life’s ups and downs.
But it’s that basic tone — Happiness with a capital H — that’s the essence behind the full range of human experience.
And I say that’s what we really want: Happiness.
Your happiness nerd,
Jackson K.
Veenhoven, R. (1996). The study of life satisfaction. In W. E. Saris, R. Veenhoven, A. C. Scherpenzeel, & B. Bunting (Eds.) A Comparative Study of Satisfaction with Life in Europe (pp. 11-48). Budapest, Hungary: Eötvös University Press.
Summary of her work here: https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/barb-fredrickson/
Catalino, L. I., Algoe, S. B., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2014). Prioritizing positivity: An effective approach to pursuing happiness? Emotion, 14(6), 1155–1161. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038029
Learned Optimism by Dr. Martin Seligman https://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/1400078393
Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness by Suzuki-Roshi https://www.sfzc.org/about/san-francisco-zen-center-lineage/branching-streams-flow-darkness