Best Happy

Tag: mental-health

  • The Psychology of Hope: Why it is more Powerful than Optimism

    In April 2011, 23-year-old Arunima Sinha, a national level basketball player, boarded a train from Lucknow to Delhi with dreams of pursuing a career in the paramilitary forces. But one horrifying moment in the journey changed the track of her life forever. A group of robbers tried to snatch her bag and gold chain. When she resisted, they pushed her out of the moving train. She fell onto the adjacent track – just as another train was approaching there. Arunima tried to save herself, but the wheels of the oncoming train crushed her left leg below the knee.

    She was rushed to the hospital, but her left leg had to be amputated to save her life. Lying on the hospital bed Arunima heard people whispering around her about how her dreams of joining the forces, as well as her career in sports were over. But Arunima refused to be beaten. Instead of drowning in despair she set an audacious goal for herself – that of climbing Mount Everest! She admits, at that time even she felt absurd about it. But it gave her something crucial – Hope. 

    She began training with a prosthetic leg under the guidance of legendary mountaineer Bachendri Pal. Two relentless years of physical and mental challenges later, on May 21, 2013, Arunima Sinha became the first female amputee in the world to climb Mount Everest. She went on to scale six more of the world’s highest peaks. Her story not only continues to inspire millions, illustrates a powerful psychological force that researchers in positive psychology call HOPE. 

    So, what really is Hope, and how is it different from optimism and positivity?

    A major component of Happiness, or Subjective well-being, as positive psychologists call it, is Life Satisfaction, and two of the most important predictors of life satisfaction have been found to be Hope and Optimism. Both, hope and optimism, involve expecting good things and positive outcomes. Both lead to better physical and mental health, increased resilience and an overall sense of well-being. However, there are some fundamental differences between the two.

    Optimism has famously been explained with the popular metaphor of a “glass half full”. It has been defined as the stable tendency to ‘‘believe that good rather than bad things will happen”(Scheier & Carver, 1985, p. 219). So, optimism is a belief that things will improve without necessarily requiring specific action. As an example, I could have a strong belief that my life will get better, or that things will improve in the future. Hope, on the other hand, is more goal oriented. Charles Snyder, one of the most prominent researchers in the field of Hope, and his colleagues conceptualize Hope as having two different, but interrelated components – Pathways and Agency. Thus, Hope includes both, the ability to generate plans to reach the desired goals (pathways), as well as belief in our ability to implement those plans (agency). And for goal pursuit both components are equally crucial. So, to excel in my graduation class (goal), I would need to identify strategies like take coaching, plan my studies better and create a reading list, while also having the motivation and confidence to commit to these strategies.

    Scientific research has shown that Hope, and not Optimism predicted grade expectancy, i.e. what students expected to score, which in turn predicted their final scores (Rand et al, 2020). Hope also predicted significant improvement in happiness levels over the semester. Hope was found to have an association with better health outcomes (Scioli et al, 1997), and also has a stronger role in existence of health problems as well as the severity of those problems.

    Thus, hope appears to outshine optimism on several levels. While optimism focuses primarily on expecting good outcomes, hope is more action-oriented. It involves not only envisioning a better future but also actively identifying pathways to reach desired goals and believing in one’s ability to pursue them. Optimism can sometimes falter when confronted with harsh realities, but hope tends to persist by adapting and finding alternative routes toward the goal.

    The encouraging news, however, is that hope is not just a personality trait that some people are born with—it is a psychological capacity that can be cultivated.

    Research on hope suggests a few simple ways in which we can strengthen it in our daily lives:

    1. Set clear and meaningful goals
    Hope begins with goals. These do not have to be dramatic or life-changing. Even small, meaningful goals give our mind a direction and something to work toward.

    2. Develop multiple pathways
    One of the core components of hope is the ability to generate different routes to reach a goal. When obstacles arise, hopeful individuals ask themselves: “What are my options to move forward?”

    3. Strengthen your sense of agency
    Agency refers to the belief that “I can do this.” Reminding ourselves of past successes, however small, can build confidence in our ability to act and persist.

    4. Break big goals into small steps
    Large goals can feel overwhelming. Breaking them into smaller achievable steps creates progress and builds momentum—fuelling the cycle of hope.

    The story of Arunima Sinha reminds us that hope is far more than a positive attitude. It is the courage to set a goal even in the face of adversity, the creativity to find new pathways, and the determination to keep moving forward.

    Optimism may help us believe that things will turn out well. But hope helps us create the path that makes them turn out well.

    So, stay optimistic. But more importantly, stay hopeful.

    Dr. Vaishali Marathe (Ph.D.)

    References:

    Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health psychology, 4(3), 219.

    Snyder, C. R. (1994). The psychology of hope: You can get there from here. Simon and Schuster.

    Rand, K. L., Shanahan, M. L., Fischer, I. C., & Fortney, S. K. (2020). Hope and optimism as predictors of academic performance and subjective well-being in college students. Learning and Individual differences, 81, 101906.

    Scioli, A., Chamberlin, C. M., Samor, C. M., Lapointe, A. B., Campbell, T. L., Macleod, A. R., & McLenon, J. (1997). A prospective study of hope, optimism, and health. Psychological reports, 81(3), 723-733.

  • The Problem with Hedonism

    The Problem with Hedonism

    Prof. Martin Seligman and his students at UPen were discussing whether happiness comes from practicing kindness or having “fun”. An assignment was decided to be done before the next class – each one would engage in one pleasurable activity and one activity of philanthropy, and write detailed reports about both. The findings were life-changing for the students – they found that the pleasure of engaging in fun activities, like hanging out with friends, watching a movie or eating ice cream paled in comparison to the feelings that they experienced after performing a kind act. After engaging in an act of kindness, some found that the whole day just became better, while others experienced that they were able to listen better, became more mellow and were more liked by others.

    This small classroom experiment highlights an important insight about happiness. Yet much of modern life is guided by a very different philosophy—hedonism, which suggests that human behaviour is primarily motivated by maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. Hedonism is a way of life for people for whom pleasure plays an important role. So, hedonists are always up for a good time, and their motto would probably be “YOLO – you only live once!” And, like the old hippie slogan goes – “If it feels good, do it!” The over emphasis on pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain could lead to self-indulgence and a plethora of short-cuts to pleasure – drugs, chocolate, alcohol, shopping and binge-watching to name a few. This pursuit of pleasure, via short-cuts, rather than by engaging in meaningful activity eventually leaves the person feeling empty and depressed. 

    The problem with hedonism can be looked at from two perspectives – on an individual level as well as from the point of view of the society and environment. Firstly, we humans have a tendency to quickly adapt to good things and take them for granted. The things that made us happy yesterday, are not making us equally happy today; today we need something better, bigger to feel the same level of happiness. But when we get the next big “high” we adapt to it as well. The pleasure fades, leaving us unsatisfied and gives rise to an urge to seek even stronger stimuli. There is a strong probability that this could lead to addiction and risky experimentation.

    The environmental argument is that hedonism gives rise to self-indulgence, which smothers awareness and rational thinking, thus leading to over-consumption. This in turn would lead to depletion of natural resources thus hastening destruction of the environment. As an example, chasing constant novelty, the urge to “keep up” and for quick gratification, many of us indulge in fast fashion, purchasing cheap clothes frequently, excessive to our needs. This worldwide practice is contributing to resource depletion (water, cotton, synthetic fibres) as well as significant pollution due to textile production and waste. Also, hedonic self-indulgence makes us focus on personal pleasure and immediate gratification, and lose sight of social obligations. We tend to become less empathetic and less concerned about the well-being of others. Self-absorption leads to weakening of social bonds and community spirit. To conclude, spending excessive time and money on self-indulgence leaves no scope for building meaningful relationships, or virtue activities like philanthropy.

    Pleasure isn’t really the enemy of happiness. But when it becomes a primary compass guiding our choices, it CAN lead us away from truly living a fulfilling and flourishing life. The purpose, hence, is not to eliminate pleasure, but balance it with meaning, engagement, compassion and responsibility – towards ourself, our family, the society and the planet. When we shift our focus from not just feeling good, but to doing good and being good, the happiness that follows is not fleeting, but enduring.

    Here’s to pursuing not just pleasure, but a life of meaning and flourishing!

    Dr. Vaishali Marathe (Ph.D)

    References:

    Seligman, M.E.P., Authentic Happiness, Hachette, 2002

    Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111

  • The true meaning of happiness: digging beneath the surface

    The true meaning of happiness: digging beneath the surface

    All thinkers, philosophers and social scientists, right from Socrates from around 400 BC to modern day psychologists have been discoursing on the concept of happiness. Happiness is the one goal that all of us strive for. All of us want to be happy. In fact, it is the ultimate goal of all other goals! However, where we might differ is what each of us mean by the term ‘happiness’. Our interpretations of happiness might vary from what we are feeling right at this moment to what has been our state of mind for the past year. So positive psychologists and other social scientists prefer to use the term “Subjective Wellbeing” – an individual’s self-assessment of how they are feeling.

    Simply put, your subjective wellbeing depends on how you are feeling right now, and how satisfied you are with your life in general. Now, there are two components to this – feeling and thinking. So, for various reasons, you could be in a good mood, feeling joyful, excited and generally upbeat, or maybe you are in a bad mood, feeling upset, stressed and generally sad. Secondly, you experience life satisfaction (or maybe don’t) when you analyse your achievements in the important aspects of life – physical health, mental health, finances, family, career, social relationships and recreational activities / hobbies. So, the recipe for happiness seems pretty straightforward – do more of the stuff that makes you feel joyful and upbeat, less of what makes you feel sad and low, and create solid plans to increase life satisfaction. Seems simple? Maybe not… Let’s dig deeper.

    Figuring out what makes us feel joyful and upbeat could be a little tricky. Almost all philosophies across the world encourage us to recognize the difference between short-term pleasures and long-term happiness. Western philosophy discusses two kinds of “happiness” – hedonism and eudaimonia. Hedonism believes in maximizing pleasure, comfort and enjoyment while minimizing pain, discomfort and suffering. Though ethical, the path of hedonism has an inherent problem…but that’s a discussion for another day. Eudaimonia has been discussed extensively by the Greek thinker-philosopher Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) in his book Nicomachean Ethics. Eudaimonia believes that living well, or “flourishing” is more important than “feeling good”, and this is best achieved by identifying and cultivating virtues and pursuing excellence. 

    Vedantic Indian literature mentions two terms with relation to happiness – Ananda and Sukha Ananda could mean a wide range of feelings like happiness, joy, enjoyment etc., but mainly “refers to ultimate happiness or bliss”. Sukha means pleasure, comfort, prosperity etc. On the one hand, while Sukha can have a contrasting dual with Dukha, there is no such contrasting concept for Ananda, which is believed to be beyond Sukha and Dukha. 

    Thinking of doing things that make us feel joyful, energetic and upbeat brings to mind an interesting piece of research, where the authors analyse the term Sukha etymologically. Thus “su”, the prefix that generally means excellent or right, and “kha” which indicates space, have together been interpreted as “excellent space”. Taking the concept of happiness into the realm of architecture, the authors believe that just as good architecture is all about excellent management of the internal and external spaces of a house, true happiness can be achieved when an individual manages his own “spaces” well – spaces within himself like health as well as thoughts, emotions, actions etc., as well as those which are external like social and environmental. Thus, every individual is the architect of his or her own “excellent spaces”.

    So then, what really is the pathway to happiness? This is best explained by Martin Seligman in his book “Authentic Happiness”. He believes there are three pathways to happiness – the Pleasant Life, the Good Life and the Meaningful Life. The pleasant life is the path of acquiring bodily pleasures and quite akin to hedonism. The good life focuses on identifying your core strengths, building relevant competencies, using them in core areas of life, and thus “flourishing”. The meaningful life is all about using these strengths and competencies for the benefit of something other than and bigger than ourselves – like our family, society, a cause etc. The three pathways are not contradictory; in fact, a balanced life needs all three. So, it is important to learn new skills, use them at work, personal relations and recreational activities, and progress towards using them to add value to the society in any way possible, but that occasional pizza or a new dress is important too!

    Stay happy!

    Dr. Vaishali Marathe (Ph.D)

    References:

    Choudry, A., & Vinayachandra, B. K. (2015). Understanding Happiness: the Concept of sukha as ‘Excellent Space.’ Psychological Studies, 60(3), 356–367. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-015-0319-5

    Ryan, R. M., Huta, V., & Deci, E. L. (2006). Living well: a self-determination theory perspective on eudaimonia. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 139–170. doi: 10.1007/s10902-006-9023-4

    Seligman, M.E.P., Authentic Happiness, Hachette, 2002