happiness101

19 may 2015 8:05am

i'm not a scientist

but i believe i think much like one

so allow me to try to simply explain how one can

increase their level or state of happiness

there are multiple steps one must go through

and at least one step is not 100% controllable by you

step 1 - you must reach out to someone else

the someone need not be another human being

it can be anything that you believe to be 'somewhat intelligent'

or somewhat aware and able to react and/or respond

it could be god or a pet or a departed loved one

the thing you reach out with can be a great variety of things

it can be anything from knowledge or a belief or even misinformation

to something as simple as a smile

i like to define any of these shareable things as 'communication attempts'

it all starts with you attempting to communicate something to another

step 2 - your communication attempt must gain attention

it must land on a target subject & be acknowledged and/or assessed

step 3 - you must get back a response or signal

but here's the most interesting discovery

the response need not be what you were hoping for

meaning the feedback need not be a positive 'hoped for' anticipated signal

you can still achieve happiness from negative feedback

but either way there is a critical component of the feedback that must exist -

empathy or honesty or truthfulness in the response content

as long as this component is present

even negative feedback can invoke increased levels of happiness