Happiness

Today more than ever, people want to be happy. Some of us have trouble believing it, but even God wants the best for us. In the bible God says in Yeremiah 29:11, for I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Let’s start with the question, what is happiness? It can be personal and can depend on the character of a person. To a more assertive person, it may mean different than an introverted person. It also has to do with how man looks at it compared to how God looks at it.

What does science have to say about this?
Science describe happiness as an increased presence of the chemicals Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphins in our human brain. This increase can be caused by both external or internal factors like a hug or the intake of certain substances. I’ll explain in another post what these chemicals exactly are. For now it is good to know that they are responsible for how we feel.

What does psychology say
Psychology distinguishes between hedonic and Eudaimonic happiness. This is the interesting part. Stay with me to learn more about these 2 forms of happiness.

Hedonic Happiness
Hedonic happiness focuses mainly on increasing pleasure. This can be achieved in various ways, from the softest to the most intense forms. Think for example of drinking a Red Bull, buying new shoes, to sex drugs and rock and roll. All these things or activities increase the chemicals like Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphins in our brain that make us feel good. When these chemicals are elevated in our brain, the pain and suffering we are currently experiencing can be suppressed. That is exactly what this form of happiness focuses on, avoiding and suppressing pain and suffering.

Hedonic adaptation
There is a drawback to hedonic happiness. You’ll be asking yourself, what can be the drawback of drinking Red Bull or buying shoes? I’ll get right into it, but first lets discuss what hedonic adaptation is.

Psychology establishes that everyone has a certain happiness baseline. Imagine a chart that can contain both positive and negative values. The baseline is then a line that always has the value 0. In other words, neither positive nor negative. The moment a person experiences pleasure, the value in the graph goes up. Because of the chemical substances in our brain, our happiness has gone up. But then something happens that happens to every person that is completely normal. The effect of the chemicals in our brain becomes less and less as time goes on. The value in our graph goes back to 0. Imagine you drank a Red Bull, an hour later you feel different than when you drank it. The same goes for any activity that causes pleasure, it diminishes over time. For example people who have won the lotto, are 2 years later just as happy as they were before they won the lotto. Going back to the value 0 on the graph and the fact that you’re not as happy as before, that is called hedonic adaptation. So you adapted to the situation.

The opposite will happen when something bad happens to you. In addition to a positive value, a chart can also contain a negative value. Then the peak of the graph is at the bottom of the zero baseline. In such a case then it means that a person experiences negative feelings. For example a sad experience such as the loss of a loved one can cause a negative spike in the hedonic chart. But again after mourning, the value goes back to 0.

It is said also, that it is necessary not to be happy all the time to increase your chances of survival. You are often less alert to danger when you experience heightened happiness. The closer you are to your happiness baseline, the sharper your senses are to see danger coming. Being at peace is the zero state on the graph.

Hedonic treadmill
In the case of hedonic happiness, people think that the peak in the hedonic chart is the ultimate happiness. In other words, you get happiness when you experience a pleasant activity. What happens next is the hedonic adaptation. The peak returns to zero. But this is not what people want. We want to be happy so we go looking for the peak again by repeating the same pleasurable activity. Now something else happens, the peak that was achieved before will no longer be achieved. Each time the activity is repeated, this peak will get lower and lower. In order to reach a higher peak again, a person can choose to do something extra during the activity, so that the high peak is reached again. This again results in the same effect, a decreasing peak over time.

Repeating an activity over and over with the aim of achieving ultimate happiness is then called hedonic treadmill. It is compared to running on a treadmill. You’re basically running, but you’re getting nowhere. This can also be the case with hedonic happiness, always looking for pleasure with the aim of becoming happy, without ultimately becoming happy or satisfied. Another term sometimes used to describe this behavior is “forever chasing rainbows”

A perhaps extreme example is the use of drugs. A user gets a hedonic peak when using drugs. As time goes on, this peak decreases and the drug has little effect. In order to be able to achieve the desired high (hedonic peak) again, the user can decide to use some stronger drugs or a combination of drugs. Sometimes After the drugs have worn off (adaptation phase), reality kicks in again. Sometimes they feel worse in this phase than before they took the drugs. Then they go looking for the drugs again to suppress this new feeling. If this behavior continues for a long time, it can in the end lead to depression. This is the moment when someone realizes that everything they have tried so far has not led to the desired result. Depression is then at the bottom of the chart. A negative peak that unfortunately can last quite a long time.

Eudaimonic happiness
To explain eudaimonic happiness, we can again use the hedonic graph. Here too, it is all about actions that you perform, causing a peak in the graph. However, there are a number of differences. The peaks are lower than with hedonic happiness and in the adaptation phase the hangover is less severe afterwards. The nature of the actions are also completely different. Unlike hedonic happiness, the actions are aimed at helping others(purpose). Hedonic happiness, on the other hand, is focused on the self.

Another difference with hedonic happiness is the fact that it contains a less addictive property. With hedonic happiness people do everything they can to experience a peak/high. Because it has a selfish nature, little consideration is given to other people in the process. Only in the adaptation phase is an individual better able to realize what possible damage he or she has caused or can cause to other people.

Understanding this principles of happiness is key for Everything in today’s society. Our lives revolves around these principles in every aspect. From the economy to our jobs and our private life.

God’s view on happiness
Everything God does has a purpose. So he has a purpose for all of us. His goal is always that we are well. Just look at Jeremiah 29:11 for example. To achieve this goal, he has given each person a purpose for his or her own life. This goal is related to a task or tasks that every person has to do on this earth. These tasks always have to do with what you can do for others. We can therefore say that God has the eudaimonic happiness in store for us.

You may ask, what about me, should I give up myself for others? No absolutely not. Firstly, you experience a different kind of happiness than with hedonic happiness. By genuinely helping people, without expecting anything in return from the people you help, you experience a long-lasting sense of satisfaction. You also know that you haven’t hurt anyone in this process that you can enjoy your happiness without a bad conscience.

Jesus uses a parable in Luke 15:11-32 to describe the difference between hedonic happiness and eudaimonic happiness. In this story is the son who leaves, the one who chooses the hedonic happiness while the other son chooses the eudaimonic happiness. The son who left and enjoyed the pleasures of this world realized after a while that he had not found the ultimate happiness he was looking for. As a result, he fell into a depression that caused him to return home.

How to achieve true happiness?
We now know that happiness does not mean that we will not experience pain. In fact, pain is an important part of being able to experience ultimate happiness. So what are some practical steps to become happy?

• Realizing that you cannot be happy all the time and that pain is part of life and happiness.
• Accept that you can’t control life/universe and that there is a higher power who is in control.
• Facing pain from the past instead of suppressing it.
• Personal growth by learning from past mistakes and developing your strengths.
• Being grateful for what you do have.
• Forgive others for the wrongs they have done to you.
• Ask for forgiveness for the wrongs you did to others, even when they don’t want to forgive you.
• Learn to set boundaries.
• Alone time with God, also called meditation.

Sources

• The Bible
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/hedonic-treadmill
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/22451114_Lottery_Winners_and_Accident_Victims_Is_Happiness_Relative
• Frankl, Viktor: Man search for meaning