WHY JOY CAN BE THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS

There's a fascinating thing about writing a TED talk shortly after finishing a book. In a book you can take as much time as you need to explore and move to an idea, and in a TED talk you only have 12 minutes – 12 minutes!! — get your thoughts out. So it is a real limiting system for expressing your most important and fundamental ideas.

Why euphoria can be the key to bliss

In the long run, this one point seems to really ring true:

Euphoria is not the same as bliss. Satisfaction is something that affects how great we feel in the long run. Yet bliss is associated with feeling great in the present, in time.

This straightforward differentiation has huge implications. Our way of life is fixated on the desire for joy, but all the while we kind of ignore the euphoria. We seek things that we think will satisfy us, but in the process we are often too busy or exhausted to encounter or appreciate happiness. However, euphoria is much more responsive and open than bliss. By the way, this can really be one of the most remarkable courses for satisfaction. So, as opposed to chasing bliss, maybe the thing we should do is focus on satisfying all things…

Characterizing feelings

The moment I began to focus on pleasure, I immediately discovered that finding a reasonable, substantial meaning for it was difficult. Even researchers—known for their precision—occasionally use the terms contentment, joy, and energy in covert or compatible ways. This is partly justified by the fact that the study of feelings is an emerging science. Once researchers start working in a different space, they need to take care of their own formulations, and it is normal for different analysts to sometimes divide a similar space into different semantic areas. Then, as the field becomes more established, agreement on specific ideas (or group structures that discuss things after a while) begins to emerge. That's how it went with the feelings.

Joy versus happiness

Yet after a while, researchers largely agreed that satisfaction (or emotional well-being, SWB for short) is a state influenced by a number of different variables, estimated over some undefined time frame. For example, assuming I ask you, "Will you be cheerful?" you can start thinking about how satisfied you are in your profession, in your well-being, in what state are your relationships with loved ones, with your soulmate or what you want to be. Once in a while it's even a little difficult to tell if you're cheerful. You may have encountered it before. Much of your life ends up in all chambers, yet you manage a tough spot at work, so while you feel like you should be content, you don't know you are. Bliss is complicated, and sometimes the more we consider it, the less certain we are.

Still, if I happen to ask you, "Do you feel happy?" it's a much more straightforward question. Since bliss is a slope estimated at the time, it's not something we should think about. We understand what euphoria is and can usually tell with great accuracy whether we are feeling it at any given second.

Euphoria IS EASIER TO TRACK THAN Bliss

Basically, if I could somehow ask you, "What could fulfill you?" can get into a sticky situation. The answer could be anything from getting a promotion to getting a college education to drawing in your marriage to getting closer (or further away!) from your loved ones. The problem is that we have no control over a lot of these things. Also, as Dan Gilbert pointed out in Staggering on Joy, these things can really fill you up, because joy is something that goes beyond getting what we need. All in all, it will make individuals generally happier. So it does a satisfactory job, i.e. cash. But the apparent satisfaction is confused. We can't predict or control it, and we generally don't remember it for a moment anyway when we have it.

Still, assuming I asked you, "What could make you happy?" I bet you could name a pretty small bunch of things that could get the job done. A walk in daylight. Playing with a dog. Lunch or a phone call with an old friend. Lots of flowers. A clear piece of craftsmanship. A visit to an energetic bistro in an alternative part of town. Pay attention to the spicy melody (and move for a few moments). Favorite food. Incredible hairstyle.

Because true bliss lives in minutes, it is much less complicated and more straightforward to find than joy.

Tracking happiness by resetting ON Happiness

Wait a minute though - the pleasure is great, but didn't I simply say it only lasts a second? You could certainly feel a lot better paying attention to the music, but if you have to pay attention to your manager bawling out orders, it really is, isn't it? What's the value of a walk in the daylight when all your worries will be there for you when I come back?

It is an admirable statement. Euphoria is not bliss, and it is anything but a panacea for everything that ails us in our daily lives. Yet interestingly, the research found that these small moments of euphoria often have a coronal effect, where their effect exceeds the moment of bliss itself. In several ways, these little snapshots of bliss are greater than the sum of their parts. Also, after some time, their combined effects can produce a more remarkable joy. Below are some explicit motivations why:

1. Euphoria transports us to the present

Thinking about contentment often distracts us from this opportunity. We think about previous encounters, the rate of progress we are making toward our goals, and our likelihood of future satisfaction. So pleasure assimilates us right now. It attracts our abilities and allows us to temporarily block out our stress from what may be outside of our lives. Some research has shown that more often than not, individuals will be happiest when their brains are focused on what is happening in the present, and pleasure helps us do just that.

2. Happiness expands our brain

Research shows that encounters with positive feelings, such as happiness, lead us to have a broader and more liberal view of the world. (See also.)* We are more flexible in our thinking and more exploratory in our behavior. We are less inclined to "sweat the small stuff" that might consume our attention, and we must be obliged to respond to clever ideas and potential open doors that could set our lives in a wonderful new direction.

3. Euphoria attracts others

One of the most critical—not that it's a major variable affecting satisfaction, by the way—is the nature of our connections. Moreover, at this point the examination is clear. Feelings are exceptionally contagious and perhaps in light of the fact that we unconsciously know it, we are attracted to individuals who express energy. Not saccharine, obviously fake excitement, but rather genuine, verifiable euphoria.

Contentment even makes individuals appear more attractive indeed! In examinations, individuals rate grimacing faces with a normal attractive quality as more engaging than non-grinning faces of better-than-expected appearance.

4. Euphoria affects our well-being

Studies have shown various relationships between a constant sense of certifiable happiness and our actual prosperity. For example, individuals with standard inspiration details have been shown to have lower cortisol, aggravation, and circulatory tension. In the long run, several scientists admit that these effects may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and may even help us live longer.

5. Euphoria brings more bliss

Research shows that when we feel some burst of satisfaction (for example, we might feel like someone gave us a small gift of candy), we are more aware that our environmental factors are good. In a real sense, we see more contentment in our general surroundings when we feel good. Perhaps the sense of satisfaction creates a kind of rosy conduit to the world, prompting us to expand our peripheral vision to track down more eruptions of pleasure to push the incline further.

This can lead to what scientists call twisting. This is the point at which a small explosion of emotion will set off a larger series of opportunities that will trigger more significant prosperity. In the event that pleasure makes us more discoverable, better and attractive to other people, it could lead us to find new open doors and better (and unlimited) cooperation. They thus bring more pleasure and a prudent circle follows. The world seems friendlier, more altruistic. Richer and less loaded with deterrents. Interestingly, research shows that individuals who experience more joy (and other positive feelings) are frankly more versatile—less susceptible to being adversely affected by the real-world effects of pressure and forced to bounce back quickly from an emergency.

Instructions to continuously watch MORE pleasure

Although euphoria may seem small, it may very well be the spark that starts a much larger chain reaction towards a more joyful life. What's more, it's not normal, because a lot of the things experts tell us will make us happier, finding happiness isn't work. These are good times!

Need ideas on the best way to get started? Download my free guide, which is bursting with 50 essential, minimal-cost ways to find more ordinary satisfaction.Get my free helper, 50 Methods to Track Delight Consistently, and start living a happier life!

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*Note: The portion of Losada's research supporting the expansion and construction hypothesis, specifically the portion about the 3:1 ratio of inspiration, has been removed. By the way, on the side of the hypothesis generally remain the main areas of strength for exploration.