Une recette pour le bonheur (A recipe for happiness)

Posted 3:00pm Sun Sep 19th, 2010 by bjkid
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What’s a recipe for happiness ? Recently I had to think about this for a writing exercise in my French class. The purpose of that particular exercise was of course more for learning to write cooking terms and measurement units in French than a serious meditation on the ingredients of happiness.  

However, the ‘experts’, which include the sages and philosophers throughout history as well as our modern-time equivalent – therapists, psychologists, and increasingly, scientists, have all been occupying themselves with the task of searching for those elusive ingredients of a blissful life. As part of a growing field called “positive psychology”, happiness is a hot subject of scientific research, and what the scientists have found out so far include:

-    People are born with a general tendency toward a certain level of happiness, or "happiness quotient", and they tend to maintain that in their daily lives.
 
-    About half of a person's "happiness quotient" comes from the personality he or she is born with. Extreme events can cause temporary bursts of happiness or sadness. But eventually, people return to about the same emotional state they're normally at.
 
-    For the other half of the happiness quotient, about 10 percent depends on external circumstances, such as how much money people make or how healthy they are. The remaining 40 percent, however, is entirely up to you.
 
-    There are strategies to make yourself happier, no matter how happy or sad you are to begin with. For example, expressing optimism about the future and gratitude about the past can both lead to an improved sense of well-being.
 

In short, happiness quotient = 50% personality + 10% external circumstances + 40% your choices (where strategies can be used to increase happiness).

I don’t know about you, but this seems like a pretty good recipe to feel happy about.