Happiness, fulfillment and well-being for 2015, what does it mean?

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HAPPINESS & WELL-BEING?

"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." —Aristotle

"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal. Not to people or things." - Albert Einstein




We have all asked the question ‘am I happy?’ but perhaps we are asking the wrong question...

...So what should we be asking instead of "am I happy ?"


Well let’s first look at lasting states of well - being and life fulfillment, as oppose to fleeting emotions, such as happy or sad, to assess our lives.

Well-being is all about your state of life and living. Well-being is a construct (construct meaning a complex concept, idea or notion) which has many measurable elements like, emotional/psychological, economic, social, physical, and environmental well-being. Well-being is also all about ‘flourishing’ and thriving in our lives. It has got to do with ‘self actualising’ and reaching our true potential. Well-being allows us to experience lasting fulfillment, meaning and satisfaction in life, which is what we equate to happiness.

Well-being and happiness have five measurable elements known as PERMA as described by Dr Martin Saligmen.
• Positive Emotions (of which happiness and life satisfaction are all parts) – Taking all things into consideration, how happy would you say you are?





• Engagement – Interests in life, do you love learning new things and being truly involved in doing and learning in life?

 • Relationships - Are there people in your life that you really care about?

 • Meaning - Do you generally feel that what you do in your life is valuable and worthwhile?

 • Achievement (accomplishment ) – are you goal setting and achieving your goals no matter how great or small in order to progress and achieve in life (successfulness means you have successfully achieved what you set out to do)

All of the above are elements of well-being, and we now know that well-being has got to do with flourishing and thriving in life.

 So perhaps we should be asking ourselves “Am I flourishing in my life?” instead of “am I happy?”

 The beauty of this is, that if you are living in a state of ‘well-being’ then life flourishing should follow with many positive emotions like, happiness and satisfaction with life.

 So maybe the right questions to ask, in order for us to move into a state of well-being are, what really makes me feel fulfilled, or what things really give my life meaning, or am I achieving in my life...?
... Am I flourishing?


May 2013 be a year of self-integrity, setting & achieving your goals, and flourishing in your life!

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes." —Andrew Carnegie

 "Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is." —Mary Anne Roadacher-Hershey

Live Well!

Marie Joshua Jones

Well-being Practitioner and Psychological Counselor.


Comments

Anonymous said…
Rocking blog, man!
January 8, 2013 at 1:27 PM
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