the three shades of happiness

 (♥)  

"We all live with the objective of being happy;
our lives are all different and yet the same."

Anne Frank

Happiness is clearly a topic I like to think about a lot. I write about it nearly every day in some form on my blog. I contemplate it constantly in my daily activities, always looking for new sources of inspiration for myself and my readers. As the author of a blog focusing on positivity and living a happier life, I’ve done quite a bit of reading on happiness and I’ve discovered something very interesting amid all that I’ve observed:

 

There are many shades of happiness.

 

Happiness is not black or white. It’s not “I’m happy” or “I’m unhappy.” Happiness, in my opinion, is one of those things that can fall anywhere from the deepest happiness and inner peace to the slight increase of happiness when one looks at a pleasant image. There are so many kinds of happiness that it’s almost overwhelming to think about. I’ve recently found myself very interested in Positive Psychology (so much so, in fact, that I'm even thinking about going back to school to study it!). In looking into the subject, I came across three distinct types of happiness, each representing different types of life. Personally I believe that individuals can embody all three of these types of happiness or they can possess different shades of each, blending together into a colorful life of peace and well-being. I’m going to outline the three types of happiness here and explore them a bit by adding my own insights.

 

 

Three Shades of Happiness

 

1. Pleasant Life: A pleasant life consists of having as much pleasure as you can, as many of the positive emotions, and learning some of the dozen or so techniques that actually work for increasing the duration and intensity of your pleasures. There are shortcuts to the pleasures. You can go shopping; you can watch television; you can take drugs. These things do not lead to true happiness. While I do agree that instant gratification and seeking pleasure from outside sources will not bring about lasting happiness, I do think that some degree of pleasure in life is a good thing. As with everything, the pleasant life should be lived in moderation, making sure that pleasures are not substitutes for real, true joy. It is important to balance a pleasant life with the other shades of happiness. When it comes to living a pleasant life, remember to moderate yourself and not allow physical pleasures to dominate your world. 

1. Engaged Life: An engaged life is being one with the music, being totally wrapped up in the people you love or what you're hearing. There are no shortcuts to the engaged life. The engaged life can only be had by first knowing what your highest strengths are, your signature strengths, and re-crafting your life to use them at work, in love, in leisure, in parenting and in friendship. Clearly, it is very important to live an engaged life. Not only will those around you benefit from your engaged living style, but you will receive many benefits as well. When you are completely wrapped up in what’s going on around you, when you are living in the moment, you are truly living a full life. Personally, when I feel down, the first thing I want to do is disengage myself from my life and from those who love and support me. But this is the wrong action to take. No matter what, stay engaged in your life. You will ultimately find more happiness this way.

1. Meaningful Life: A meaningful life consists of again knowing what your highest strengths and talents are and using them in the service of something that you believe is bigger than you are. Living a meaningful life is so, so important. When you are living without purpose, it is difficult to know true happiness. You feel as if you’re floating, unsure of where you’re supposed to be or what direction you are going in. This is not a good feeling and it often causes a great deal of unhappiness. Taking your strengths and using them to benefit other people is one of the greatest things you can do – and this is something we can all do. Everyone has unique strengths. Think about what yours are and how you can use them to make the lives of others better. In the process, you’ll make your life better too!

 

As I’m sure you know there are many, many layers to happiness. These are only three types of happiness out of the many types I believe you can experience. I hope you can see how these three shades of happiness can blend together to create a happier existence. Each of us has the power to choose what shades of happiness we want to use to create the color of who we are. At times this can seem overwhelming, but it is truly wonderful that happiness comes in so many amazing, inspiring shades. Information for this post came from the article "The Three Types of Happiness." You can also find more information by visiting this site: www.authentichappiness.org. 

 

What do you think about these three types of happiness?
Do you see any of these in your life? Do you think there are other types?

 

Note: This was a guest post I wrote last June for the wonderful website Shades of Crimson. To view the  the original article, visit Shades of Crimson. If you have some time for additional reading, check out the site! And if you really have some time on your hands, check out my post from Friday: "Link Love: 50+ Articles You Should Read Now".

Comments

[J.D. Meier]

Beautiful frame - pleasant, engaged, and meaningful.

I like the way you carved them out and put a great lens on each.

[Beth Oppenheim]

What a great post! I think that it's totally true that there are layers of happiness that are different. I strive for the balance (which I think many of us constantly struggle with) but hopefully, there is that joy in the process.
What great research :) Thanks!

[Luana]

I absolutely love everything from here. This is a beautiful post and your website is so inspiring! Thank you for sharing.

[positively present]

J.D. - Thank you! I'm glad you liked the way I organized the post.

Beth - Thanks! There really are so many layers of happiness, but I feel as if these three capture many aspects of lift. I'm glad you liked the post.

Luana - It made me very happy to read your comment! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoy reading Positively Present. :)

[jonathan figaro]

I think we all have a meaning to life. We just need to find our purpose. Then begin to live on purpose with no questions asked.

[zmajeva]

I'm thinking now- people can even have a meaning in their lives and still not be happy. Maybe we don't have to be obsessed with happiness, maybe happiness is just a very special moment, but that doesn't mean we are unhappy the rest of the time.

[Linda Davis]

Wow, what an insightful post! Thanks for sharing this. I've never really thought that there are layers of happiness, but your article made me think.

Another type of happiness that is common to religious people is "spiritual happiness". Your soul is at peace amidst "the noisy confusion of life", as the poem Desiderata puts it.

[Rocky]

"Engaged Life: An engaged life is being one with the music, being totally wrapped up in the people you love or what you're hearing. There are no shortcuts to the engaged life. The engaged life can only be had by first knowing what your highest strengths are, your signature strengths, and re-crafting your life to use them at work, in love, in leisure, in parenting and in friendship"

Thats so true! Once we know.... WOW DO WE KNOW !!!!

and wow that be pretty awesome to be major in positive psychology !

[Betty]

Great blog and article. I see myself as having passed through several of these shades of happiness and I'm currently working toward finding my definition of a meaningful life. I've been reading a EBook called "The Objective is Happiness". It's a very interesting and motivational book about finding your passion in life and how to focus your life to achieve happiness. Here's a website http://theobjectiveishappiness.com/

[positively present]

Jonathan - I believe you're right and it can be really difficult for some people to find their purpose in life. I agree that once we've found it we should live with no questions asked!

Zmajeva - Thanks for the comment. It's true that we don't have to be (and can't be) happy all of the time, but I do believe we need to have meaning in our lives to be fulfilled. Happiness isn't necessarily the same as meaningfulness though.

Linda - Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed the post. Spiritual happiness is a good one and I'm glad you brought that up. Thanks!

Rocky - Great way of putting it: "Once we now, wow, do we know!" It really is the truth. It would definitely be awesome to study Positive Psychology! :)

Betty - Thank you for your comment and for sharing that ebook. It sounds really interesting and I'm looking forward to checking it out!

[drfred]

Why all the focus on happiness and positivity? With all the resources on the subject, I question whether people in developed countries are any happier than they were 10 years ago.

I'm in favor of being happy and not pursuing it- happy for no reason. In my view, fulfillment is a more powerful notion to engage with.

There is a school of thought that claims that happiness is overrated. All the focus on positivism takes away from our authenticity. Our so called "negative" emotions like, sadness and anger get covered up so we lose ourselves.

Robert Holden, Ph.D. in his book, "Be Happy," which is based on a course on happiness he facilitates writes that when people have a choice between being happy and being authentic, they choose the latter!

[positively present]

Dr. Fred - Thanks for your comment. It's a great one and you've raised some really interesting questions, especially regarding whether or not positivity takings away from authenticity. One thing that's important to remember is that being positive and looking for the good things in life doesn't mean you ignore things that are negative. To understand more what I'm talking about here, I'd advise reading Barbara Fredrickson's book, Positivity. It really sums it up well. I'm definitely going to check out that book Be Happy. It sounds very interesting! Thanks for letting me know about it!

[Tara Melissa]

Wow, this is a really interesting post. I know happiness can take different forms, but I have never considered it as concretely as this.

It's interesting how they're very distinct and yet, very interconnected. Thanks for the post!

[positively present]

Tara Melissa - I'm glad you liked this post. Before reading the article, I'd never considered them that way either. Great point about how distinct and yet connected they are -- so true!

[Syd]

I like having an adventuresome life. I like being engaged in living. All of this is important in my being.

[positively present]

Syd - I love the phrase "engaged in living." That's something I'm really trying to do lately and it makes life so much more exciting.