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What Is Happiness, Anyway? By Jackson Rainer
Gwen is a bright 60-something year old woman working as a nurse educator in a southern urban hospital. In a psychotherapy session exploring concerns regarding experiences with chronic, debilitating anxiety, she said, "I know I should be happy, but I don't even know what that is." She continued, "The pandemic made things worse for me. I think my natural state of being is not necessarily happy, so I'm not sure what to expect." Gwen, like many, is experiencing how happiness, defined by an internal sense of personal satisfaction, seems to have dramatically changed in the last few years. Cynicism, irritability and exhaustion rise with increasingly demanding urgencies of daily living embodying different energy than was experienced in the pre-pandemic years.
2. Close personal and intimate relationships. Finding and sustaining loving, companionable communities enhances the sense of warmth that is a marker of the energy of happiness. 3. Focused intent on the beauty and art in nature. Place cut flowers on the dining room table. Listen closely to the sound of the rain. Hug a tree. 4. Reasonable standards of living and satisfactory work. By Jung’s definition, the more grace and simplicity is found in the course of the day, the more happiness is present. 5. A philosophic or religious point of view. An organized belief system that allows meaning for coping successfully with the alterations of daily life is a defining factor of happiness.
"I know I should be happy, but I don't even know what that is."
Neurological psychologists remind us that while our brains are good at many things, happiness is not necessarily one of them. The process of natural selection and sustenance is more oriented to survival, reproduction and full utilization of resources. So, in 2023 as the world is more fragmented, polarized and we live with a loss of the common good, the psychological "lay of the land" for what makes us happy appears to be changed.
5 Elements of Happiness
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1. Good physical health. For 55+ers, good physical health is defined by staying in motion. While it may be aspirational to run a 5k race, walking 20 minutes every day is good enough exercise.
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NOVEMBER 2023
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