On its International Day.. experts define happiness and talk about the “pillars of reaching it”

by time news

The concept of happiness differs between individuals, and with the technological development and the solutions of social networking sites in daily life, surfers on the Internet see different forms of activities in others that they believe provide happiness.

The view of money remains the same as a way for a person to reach this state, and United Nations programs introduce several elements to measure happiness, including per capita GDP, freedom and the existence of support, and poor countries often come in the lowest rank, such as Afghanistan and Lebanon.

And with the advent of the International Day of Happiness on March 20, what is the true concept of this feeling according to psychology? How is it measured?

Since 2013, the United Nations has celebrated the International Day of Happiness as a way to recognize the importance of happiness in people’s lives around the world, according to what it says on its website.

And the General Assembly, by its resolution on July 12, 2012, designated March 20 as the International Day of Happiness, in recognition of the importance of happiness and well-being as two universal values ​​that people around the world aspire to, and because of their importance in relation to the purposes of public policy.

Within the framework, psychological therapist and specialist in psychological evaluation, Mary Shaheen, indicates in an interview with Al-Hurra that “happiness is a psychological state that gives a person a sense of comfort, strength, and absence from worries and anxiety, and the human brain secretions contribute to this feeling,” noting that happiness Provides its owner with psychological and physical comfort.

Through observation and statistics, it turns out that rich people can secure their needs and luxuries, such as buying luxury cars and houses, and traveling to several countries for tourism, but the feeling of lack remains within them, so you see that “happiness is a feeling of sufficiency, and that the individual is happy with what he owns,” according to Shaheen.

Shaheen gives, for example, many people who try to find happiness and comfort by registering in drawing or sports centers or traveling and staying up late and sharing these moments with others on social networking sites, but the feeling of lack remains within them, so happiness does not come through these methods.

She points out the importance of the element of “sufficiency” for the individual, saying, “He who is not satisfied does not feel happy, because he will remain anxious about how to secure more.”

She explains that “money comforts a person with a certain part of his life, and he forgets his problems for a certain period through the activities that he can do, but after that he returns to his reality.”

Shaheen points out that “most people who have money resort to several means to forget their worries and problems, so on the scientific level we do not link happiness to money, but we link it to the extent of a person’s knowledge of how to get what he wants.”

And she stresses that “happiness is not the absence of fatigue,” explaining that “a person feels his happiness when he can go to work without complaining, and he always has a passion to achieve his ambitions, and he always rejoices in meeting with his family and in his home.”

While happiness is inseparable from a person’s securing his basic needs such as food, drink, housing, clothing, hygiene and health, as this relieves anxiety and reassures a person, this is only the first stage of happiness, according to Shaheen.

For her part, the psychological and social specialist, Rima Bejjani, points out in an interview with Al-Hurra that happiness is “arbitrary and linked to man,” meaning that each person creates his own happiness.

Bejjani considers that a person’s happiness is based on four basic pillars: family, emotional, social and professional relationships.

And that is because a person matures through his family, which gives him the true concept of contentment and happiness, according to Bejjani, which explains that happiness is not achieved immediately, but rather through stages through the gradual achievement of goals at the previously mentioned levels.

Bejjani also points out the role of hormones in controlling feelings that are fueled by daily activities, and happiness can be nourished through physical and recreational activities, communication with society, and others. Happiness varies according to age, with a person’s maturity and different outlook on life.

It is noteworthy that the report of the Global Happiness Index for the year 2023, which is issued by the Sustainable Development Network launched by the United Nations, takes into account several factors such as the average per capita GDP, and this indicator gives information about the economic situation in the country, in addition to the social status of the individual and the existence of a person What to rely on, as well as the index of health and life expectancy, freedom to make decisions, generosity and engagement in voluntary work, in addition to a decrease in corruption, according to what was mentioned in the introduction to the report.

According to the report, global happiness was not affected in the three years after the spread of the Corona epidemic. Within the framework, Helliwell notes, “the sentiment remained positive despite the difficult circumstances.”

For the sixth year in a row, Finland ranked first in the report, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg and New Zealand.

As for Austria, it ranked No. 11, Australia ranked No. 12, Canada No. 13, Ireland ranked 14, and the United States ranked No. 15.

Lebanon and Afghanistan are still the most miserable, according to what was stated in the introduction to the report, and Afghanistan ranked 137th, while Lebanon ranked 136th.

The UAE ranked first in the Arab world and ranked 26th globally in terms of happiness index (6.571), after it was in 2022 in second place in the Arab world and 24th globally with an index (6.576), followed by Saudi Arabia in second place in the Arab world and 30th globally with an index (6.463), after it was third in the Arab world. And ranked 25 in the world, with an index of (6,523) in 2022.

Then Bahrain came third in the Arab world and ranked 42 in the world with an index of (6.173), a decrease from its first rank in the Arab world during the year 2022 and 21 globally with an index of (6.647) at the time.

And ranked 98 in the world came Iraq, followed by the Palestinian territories, then Morocco and Mauritania.

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