Defining happiness is as difficult as defining success: it means different things to different people. While some people are happy with the little things (“Whew! I wasn’t late for the bus!”), others are only happy when they achieve a benchmark (“Finally! I got that promotion!”).

There are different degrees of happiness as well. Think of these two questions:

“Were you happy today?”

“Are you happy with your life?”

There has been some research done on the topic lately and the consensus is that happiness is made up of different things but the main three traits that they have in common are: engagement, pleasure, and meaning. Also, in order to be truly happy, the answer to both of the questions (above) should be positive.

Since happiness is subjective (meaning that it depends on the person), it’s hard to study why people are happy, what truly makes them happy, and who are most likely to lead happy lives. We just have to find those things that fulfill the three common traits and fill our lives with them. Go find happiness…Be content…Gratitude and thankfulness go a long way with true happiness.

Image: peyri