This is not the first time we have heard about happiness and science merging, but the research never ceases to find out why some people live a generally happy life and others, no matter how many material things they have, seem to never be happy. Research shows that once you get the things you need with ease, like a home, food, the ability to pay your bills on time, there is not much higher to go on the happiness scale. In other words, unless you are struggling for your basic needs, happiness appears to be a choice you make every day.
Once, in an interview, one of the richest women in the world, Oprah Winfrey, admitted that she was not what you would call, ” a happy person at all times”, now we know, it is impossible for anyone to be happy all of the time, but we would expect that Oprah would be generally happy most of the time, but she admits that it is hard for her. Some researchers call this the “happiness quotient”. The happiness quotient explains that every person has a level of happiness that they can naturally reach, no matter what their lifestyle may be. There have been studies where people on remote islands who seemingly have none of life’s luxuries and work hard every day for their own basic needs, are some of the happiest people in the world.
Research shows that everyone’s level of happiness is individual. Some will always be happy even without having a lot of material things, or the perfect job, or the perfect mate. Happiness comes naturally to these types of people. Their happiness quotient is naturally high, while others will always struggle to be happy even when it seems as though they have everything.
Scientists say that you can raise your happiness quotient through programs like positive psychology, learning how to think positively about your life in spite of what you have or don’t have. Many positive psychology programs teach you that material things don’t bring you happiness, as in the case of Oprah Winfrey, who we would expect to be ecstatic at all times. Research shows that you raise your happiness quotient by focus, focusing on the things, people, experiences, you have in your life every day. These programs are not saying to ingnore your problems, it is simply simply saying that a beleif that everything will be well, will slowly raise your happiness quotient.