Happiness Factors

Many researchers tell us that there are three sets of factors that help determine our individual levels of happiness:

* Genetic

* External

* Internal

On the genetic level some of us, as happiness expert and University of Virginia professor Jonathan Haidt puts it, "won the cortical lottery." In other words we are genetically and neurologically predisposed to being happy. Many times these folks are the ones who are primarily left-brained and right handed. (Don't worry, if you are predominantly right-brained and left handed, like me, you aren't doomed to a life of depression and woe -- read on!)

The genetic factors pertaining to happiness help determine our "happiness set point," i.e. that level of happiness to which we naturally return, eventually, even after really good or really bad things have happened to us. According to some estimates, though, our happiness set point and the attendant genetic factors determine only about 40% of our current happiness level, and even the set point can be influenced to a certain degree by both external and internal factors.

External factors affecting our happiness, however, are the ones which we tend to overvalue the most. As Haidt tells us, ""most environmental and demographic factors influence happiness very little." Increasing your income level, beyond the amount of money necessary to fulfill your basic needs, has very little positive effect on happiness. One naturalistic piece of evidence for this contention is The College Test. Think back to your college days. If you were like most college students, your income was severely limited, and yet many people describe their college years as the happiest time in their life. (What external factors can increase or decrease your happiness will be discussed in a future post --stay tuned!).

So, what is the factor that has the greatest influence on your happiness? How you use your mind! Call it emotional intelligence, memory management, affective style, positive thinking, or any other of a myriad names floating around out there. They all mean the same thing -- happiness begins within! "Don't Worry, Be Happy," is more than just the title of an upbeat song, it's sound psychological advice.

But how to stop worrying, how to not let your fears, desires and fantasies control your mind, there, as our buddy Billy S would say, "is the rub." Mind management is not a weekend workshop; it's a lifelong practice. And here's a great place to begin -- a book by Martin Seligman, father of the Positive Psychology movement entitled Learned Optimism. Read it. Practice it. Take control of your happiness by learning to take control of your mind. What could be more important?