Happiness

Psychology agrees that the key to good living is to find meaning. For Nietzsche, those who do great things suffer greatly. Those who do small things suffer trivially.

Herein lies the paradox of happiness. Activities directly focused to increase pleasure are unlikely to have a high payoff. Happiness is a side effect.

Emotions are not “bad” or “good” but simply “comfortable” or “uncomfortable.” And even uncomfortable emotions (like sadness, anger etc) help us point issues we ignored about ourselves.

 Is your ability to modulate or control the type of emotion you’re feeling, how long you feel that emotion, how strong it is, and whether you can turn it from negative to positive. Good emotional regulation, lets you get over negative feelings relatively quickly.

Having bad emotional clarity is thought to lead to low emotional regulation, which is linked to depression and rumination.

Involves your ability to identify what you feel with ease. It affects mental health by predisposing people to depression.

This is a “subjective” ability. There is no external objective reference point for naming your emotions. Emotions are also relative qualities, meaning different people have different definitions and experiences for a given emotion. 

In a fundamental sense, workplace happiness comes when:

• We enjoy doing the tasks assigned to us
• We feel right about the people we are working with
• We are happy with the financial benefits we get from the job
• We have the scope of improving our existing skills
• We feel respected and acknowledged at work

Happy employees are compulsory for a growing business.

A study on organizational success revealed that employees who feel happy in the workplace are 65% more energetic than employees who don’t. They are two times more productive and are more likely to sustain their jobs over a long period of time.

Many people believe therapy is something you need when you are not satisfied, happy or content with life.

Mental illnesses go far beyond being happy or sad, and many people that don't think they need therapy may, in fact, be in acute need of it.

• It’s a myth that mental health and happiness mean the same thing.
• Happiness is just another emotional state, like sadness.
• Depression is portrayed as not being happy, which is untrue.
• The pill-popping generations label anti-depressant pills as Happy Pills, which is also misleading.

Anger is an activating emotion. It simplifies thinking. Angry people are inclined to blame people rather than society or fate. They take risks without considering the danger of those risks. They are more likely to rely on stereotypes.

Anger can put you in the game to act, but it is also important to think.

People with a positive mood put more faith in the length of a message rather than the quality.

Sadness promotes systematic thought. However, it can keep you busy with analyzing the options without making a decision. Sadness also makes you more impatient.

The error that we make is identifying ourselves with our emotions. We are by ourselves perfect, but we were never told this. Our feelings are not us. Our fear is a separate entity, which we can handle, and tame. We feel angry but cannot become anger ourselves.

Our feeling of unworthiness is due to our mistakenly identifying the rising and falling emotions as facts.

It’s hard to feel peaceful if you punish yourself for making mistakes. You may even end up avoiding risks and new experiences to escape the pain of your own self-judgment. But trying new things not only opens up avenues for you, but also brings a sense of fulfillment in life.

We find motivation when something is meaningful. Meaning is much bigger than the enjoyment of a moment. It can include something we don't like. Soldiers risk being killed every day to serve their country. New parents handle poop daily for years.

Meaningful things give us purpose. This means doing something that serves a larger cause than yourself or, at least, making a contribution in your own world.

When a task you have to do doesn't seem meaningful, reframe your experience. You may not always be able to change what you have to do but you can change how you view it. When you look at it in light of how it helps others, you'll often find motivation.

You're not "filling out boring paperwork, you're helping people get the insurance that could save their life. You're not slaving over a hot stove, you're showing your family how much you love them.

Emotions are powerful and managing it is tough at times. But by gaining control over them makes you mentally stronger.

You'll gain confidence in your ability to handle discomfort while also knowing that you can make healthy choices that shift your mood.