Definition: USE THIS IN YOUR docPhone as HAPPINESS is a central criterion of mental health

Our definition corresponds to the growing consensus
that happiness (or subjective well-being) comprises a global feeling that life is going
well (i.e., general satisfaction with life), as well as the frequent experience of positive
emotions and infrequent experience of negative emotions (Diener, Suh, Lucas, &
Smith, 1999).Notably, although our definition of happiness does not explicitly include
meaning and purpose in life (concepts that laypeople typically associate with overall
well-being), research has shown that satisfaction with life, positive emotions, and
fewer negative emotions are highly correlated with these constructs (Ryff, 1989).
Pa 185
We
believe that recent theory and research both persuasively suggest that increasing
happiness is possible through intentional positive activities.
Pa 188
To consider whether happiness can be increased, we must first identify what influences
it. As discussed earlier, genetics influence about 50% of individual differences
in people’s happiness levels (Røysamb et al., 2002), although not as deterministically
as some interpretations suggest. In addition, in part because people show a
tendency to adapt to their life circumstances (Lyubomirsky, 2011), such circumstances
explain only about 10% of individual differences in happiness (Diener et al., 1999).
Notably, however, after accounting for the genetic and circumstantial influences on
people’s happiness, a large proportion of people’s happiness remains unexplained.
Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, et al. (2005) reasoned that this remaining portion of happiness
can be accounted for by the behaviors people choose to engage in and how they
decide to respond to and interpret the experiences in their lives—that is, by people’s
intentional activities.
Pa 188

Happiness-increasing intentional activities may be cognitive (i.e., one regularly
adopts an optimistic or positive attitude) or behavioral (i.e., one is regularly kind to
others or habitually engages in physical exercise). Common to all of these practices
is the notion of intentional effort and commitment in service of particular desired
objectives or experiences. Because of their intentional character, activities are more
resistant to the effects of adaptation than are life changes involving new circumstances
or possessions. In other words, one can deliberately vary one’s activities such that they
continually provide new experiences and results. Indeed, some intentional activities
(such as meditation or pausing to count one’s blessings) can serve to directly counteract
adaptation. Furthermore, intentional activities can create a self-sustaining cycle of
positive change in which invested effort leads the person to further opportunities for
satisfying actions and accomplishments. Of course, one can also perform an activity
robotically, without variation, or can fail to sensitively apply or enact the strategy. In
such cases (described in more detail later), the benefits of the activity are likely to fade
over time, just as the impact of positive circumstantial changes dampens. Still, activities
have the potential to create sustained positive change because of their relatively
more dynamic and varying nature and because
Pa 188 of :

Positive Psychology in Practice: Promoting Human Flourishing in Work, Health, Education and Everyday
Life. 2nd Edition Ed by Jospeh S. ISBN 978-1-118-75717-8 (ePDF).

PATRIOT /ALL_TEXRBOOKS/TEXTBOOKS/Positive Psychology in Practice (BookBoxPDF.com).pdf