5 facts to know to live happily

According to the annual General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), the number of Americans who said they were "very happy" dropped from 25% in 2018 to 19% in 2022.

Dr. Emiliana Simon Thomas, one of the world's leading happiness researchers and scientific director of the Greater Good Center at the University of California, Berkeley, outlines the truths you need to understand about happiness in order to be truly happy.

What is happiness? According to Dr. Emiliana, happiness is a general characteristic of a person's life, a pleasant state you achieve when everything is going well.

Everyone can learn to be happy.

Contrary to the traditional view that each person is born with a destiny, some are always happy, others are "fated to be miserable", Dr. Emiliana affirms that everyone can learn how to become happy.

Money does not necessarily mean happiness

Most of us assume that rich people are happier than poor people. It is true that having more money can, to a certain extent, create happiness. As your income increases, you have more independence and stability in your life, and your happiness increases.

However, at some point, money no longer makes a difference. Assuming $130,000 is enough to provide you with everything you want, that’s enough money to make a difference in your happiness. Once your income goes up, the impact is minimal, unless you prioritize your time and money on the basics of health.

Emiliana’s research shows that what increases happiness is investing in your relationships, such as spending time with loved ones, getting to know colleagues and friends, and having casual conversations with people you’ve never met. These types of pro-social activities, actions, and priorities will continue to influence happiness throughout your life.

Happiness does not mean being happy all the time

Being happy means you feel good when things are going well, but that doesn't mean you have to feel good all the time when you read about social injustice or when you have some health problem.

Unpleasant emotions are necessary in shaping our decisions about what to do at any given moment, depending on the circumstances we are in. Trying to suppress, avoid, or prevent them is detrimental to happiness in life.

In other words, resilience is essential to happiness. It means knowing how to manage the inevitable setbacks and difficulties in life. Accepting our uncomfortable emotions and identifying and naming them in a way that allows us to use our action tendencies to make the best decisions for ourselves, rather than hurting ourselves with rumination, hostility, and comparison.

Social connection is important for happiness

Researchers David Sbarra and James A. Coan studied the neural pathways in the brain when people were doing tasks alone or with others. The results of the study showed that working alone created feelings of loneliness. The researchers concluded that social contact is a biobehavioral resource. That is, without social connection, we lack the basic resources to survive. Thinking about how to provide honesty, authenticity, support, recognition, compassion, and love to help you tend to increase your own happiness.

Living positively will make you happier

Being positive means finding ways to enjoy enjoyable experiences and prioritizing those experiences that truly bring true and lasting joy. Note that being positive is not about consuming luxurious and “overpriced” experiences.

According to VnExpress