The Key to Elevating your Happiness Level

If I were to ask you on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being most, what your happiness level is, where would you score?

Aristotle once said that happiness is the most sought after thing of mankind. Hence, the pursuit of happiness. When people are happy, the world is brighter, everyone seems to be smiling, no one is flipping you off on the highway, and everything seems to be going your way. When we aren’t happy, it seems that everyone is in a bad mood and there are inflatable arm-flailing tube men filling the highway flipping you off for driving too slow.

When you feel happy, chemicals are released in your brain (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins just to name a few).

We get that amazing rush of energy, shortness of breath, and butterflies in the stomach. We also stand a little taller, look up a little higher, and smile a little wider.

Throughout my life, I always subconsciously thought that happiness was dependent on my level of success in my career. The keyword there is subconscious. I didn’t realize that I was thinking in this manner until I went through some self-realization. I always had the mentality that I would be happy WHEN the next thing happens….

Each time I reached another level of success, I would be happy for about a year and then my happiness would falter again. I continually would tell myself, “If I get to the manager level, I’ll be happy. If I get to director level, I’ll be happy.” I based my level of happiness on my current circumstances. I tried to use my future promise of happiness as bait to keep me motivated in the workplace. What I realized is that I was using the wrong strategy to achieve happiness.

The reality is that happiness can’t actually be pursued. Feeling happy is an indirect result of certain actions that CAN be pursued. If someone were to ask you, I am here to achieve happiness, I would ask, “How?” Their answer might not even be aligned with the things that might make them happy. For example, they might say working harder at their job to get a raise but they aren’t addressing the big elephant in the room; they hate their job.

The true definition of happiness is “the state of being happy.”

It’s a state of mind, not a situation. I have visited people in third-world countries who were genuinely happier than most of the Americans I know. Why is that? At the end of the day it comes down to achieving what is most important to you and doing the things that you enjoy most in life.

Everyone is uniquely different (thank goodness!) and we all have prioritized what is most important to us. Some of mankind's greatest needs in life are certainty, variety, love, and feeling significance. When we meet our specific needs, our brains will release feel-good hormones based on the achievements of what is most important to us. For example, one of my top needs in life is a hunger for growth and variety. About two years ago, I wasn’t getting either of those things. I was stagnant in my job with no professional goals in the future and my day-to-day was very regimented. I would wake up, work out, work, come home, and go to sleep. This routine might feel like heaven for some of you but I wanted more variety. I instantly started making changes to my life based on my needs.

So I ask you, what do you love doing? What do you need more of in your life? - Do you need more growth?

Set a new goal for yourself. Dopamine is released by the brain when we receive rewards, like reaching a goal.

- Do you need more variety?

Add more fun to your routine. Instead of going straight home from work, stop by that yoga studio you drive by all the time and try it out! Exercise releases endorphins which are the pain-killing hormones

- Do you need more love and connection to others?

Connect with friends and family by giving them a hug. Oxytocin is the connection hormone, which is released when we feel love and human touch.

The key is to find out what you want and need and execute on those activities. Walking around aimlessly telling yourself you wish you were happy will do nothing but make you more unhappy because you are focusing on the thing that you DON’T have...happiness.

A wellness coach in Orlando, FL is a great way to help you find what is missing in your life.

If this post speaks to your heart, contact me at [email protected] so we can talk about ways to elevate your zest and happiness in life.