EP 458: How to Develop the Skill of Happiness

For most of my life, I always thought that happiness happened in one of two ways:

Either you were simply born happy.

Or you had such a ‘good life’ that you were happy by default.

But, as I’ve told you before, shortly after I started practicing mindfulness, I found myself being happy for no reason at all.

Recently, I went about searching for the answer to a simple, yet significant question:

What is happiness?

You know me… I wanted some hard science to help me understand this state that is often very elusive.

And science did I find!

It turns out that psychologists define happiness as having three distinct levels.

The first level is simple: happiness on this level is defined by simply having more positive emotions (joy, excitement, gratitude, etc.) than negative emotions (anger, sadness, shame, etc.)

The second level is a bit more nuanced: here, happiness is defined by the level of satisfaction one has in their position in life.

That is to say: feeling that you have stability in your life and are grounded in your integrity as a person (defined by you) and that you feel relatively on course to meet your goals. (Again, goals that are defined, and adjusted, by you.)

The third level of happiness has to do with a sense of purpose and meaning in your life.

This last level is all about being connected to something higher than yourself.

In today’s episode, I go into deep detail on each of these levels, or components, of happiness:

But more importantly, I illustrate how each of these levels of happiness is a skill that can be trained the same way as any other skill: Through practice.

If you have any questions or would like help in connecting to something bigger than yourself, please click here to schedule a complimentary meeting with me:

https://calendly.com/d/f68n-qhv6/coaching-session

Here’s the link to this Saturday’s guided meditation and discussion:

https://www.meetup.com/learning-to-surf-talks-on-buddhism-meditation-mindfulness/events/sfjpfsyccfbjb/

Here’s the link to The Learning to Surf Podcast:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learning-to-surf-talks-on-buddhism-dharma-riding-waves/id1512499997

And if you’re interested in becoming a patron you can join here:

https://www.patreon.com/artburns