The Components of Happiness

Happiness is not something that just happens to you, it is something you cultivate.

I know that in the time and place where we find ourselves, happiness can be elusive. I have been thinking a lot about what happiness is and why it so hard for so many of us to maintain. During my experience as a middle school remote learning teacher over the past four months I did some research about the components of happiness. I found a source that I shared with my students: https://www.learnexperiencehappiness.com/virtual-experiences

This chart was included in the materials for students. I find it really useful when I am thinking about how to nurture happiness in my own life:

Mindfulness can be meditation, or it can be just really mindfully drinking your morning coffee. I find meditation to be exactly what I need to bring me back to myself every day. But a walk through the park looking up at the leaves on the trees can do the same thing.

For me, human connection, like sitting and talking with the people in quarantine with me, has been abundant. But many people are isolated in quarantine. My brother set up a recurring weekly family game night on Sunday evenings through Zoom. Every Sunday the Boomers, Xers, Milennials, and GenZers of our small tribe have connected with one another to play Kahoot!, Boggle, Headbands, and Balderdash. It has been something that I look forward to and I get a feeling of well-being after each game night.

When I feel like I am struggling in these troubling times, I check in with these six components and I look for ways to bring my attention to them. My students reported to me that each of these components had a positive effect on their happiness and I find that the same is true for me.