When I tell people I’m studying the science of happiness and how to be happier in our personal and professional lives, they usually get confused – and even suspicious – about it.
The problem is, when it comes to happiness, it seems to be something “unachievable” sitting around it. Also, people are overwhelmed by all these self-help books, trying convincing you that you need to be happy no matter what, so that being happy became pretty trendy, but yet unattainable in some way.
But let’s face the truth: no one can be happy 100% of the time! – Even that friend you follow on Instagram, that seems to be super happy, visiting amazing places and having a great time while you are working hard and trying to figure how to escape from your boring routine!
A recent study looked at a wider range of people – more than 30K individuals – and found that those who experienced a mixture of both positive and negative emotions were less likely to be depressed than those who experienced just positive emotions. Also, this another research have found that pursuing happiness “no matter what” can be harmful and may actually make you unhappy. So, how can we be happier, without being crazy about it?
For me the key is having what experts call a “sustainable happiness” lifestyle, not trying or pretending to feel good at all the time, but experiencing this mixture of positivity and negativity, welcoming the Emodiversity balance in our day-to-day lives, such as it is in nature.
If we stop to look around us, we’ll be able to see that it’s all about balance in the universe: day and night, hot and cold, light and darkness, male and female, yin and yang. Neither of them is good or bad, they are just opposites that bring balance to everything else.
What I mean by that is having a sustainable happiness lifestyle is about embracing all types of feelings and situations, without labelling them as good or bad, positive or negative, just being aware of them, identifying what has triggered it and how it impacts in your body, in your mind and in your soul.
Allowing yourself to embrace this balance is the first step to start noticing all the beautiful things that surround you, being grateful for them and staying committed to being the best version of yourself every day.