Happiness is “Satisfaction with what you have and who you are,” “To be content and loved,” “Enjoying the little things and being grateful,” and “Reading, sleeping, and laughing.” These are some answers given from folk on the Whittier College campus when asked what happiness means to them. While I think all these answers are correct, my answer can be boiled down to one word that can still hold the subjectivity behind happiness.
The answer to happiness can vary from person to person but they can all be traced to one simple requirement: stability. My definition of stability is as broad as everyone else’s answer for happiness. Stability can range from financial to mental or physical health to relationship stability. As long as these things are met with care, happiness will fall into place. Financial stability comes in the form of having a secure income and avoiding debts or living paycheck to paycheck. Stability of health requires maintaining physical fitness, a healthy diet, and keeping emotions and mental health in check. Relationship stability means avoiding hurtful connections with individuals who do not contribute to your happiness. This can also expand to keeping close with your family and best of friends.
This idea that stability can create happiness can be connected to Peterson’s Three Pillars of Positive Psychology. A positive subjective experience can come in many forms. Having a good time with friends or setting personal goals for exercise can be rewarding on one’s happiness. Positive individual traits cannot be achieved without personal accountability. If someone is not responsible enough to ensure their own happiness, they would not be someone that exhibits healthy individual traits that can create a stable life. Lastly, surrounding oneself with positive institutions (clubs, sports, friends, family) will foster personal growth. Humans are social creatures and having the right social connections will increase that stability and happiness (2006).
None of this is really far off from what the people on Whittier’s campus told us when they described happiness. Every person gave us their own answers which were not exactly like the others. Some took happiness from activities, some from personal satisfaction or contentment with who they are, and others found happiness in the personal connections they had with others. Failure to adhere to any of these things would require an overall lack of stability in each of their departments and would therefore lead to a failure to adhere to each of the Three Pillars of Positive Psychology.
Positive Psychology in a Nutshell 