In search of happiness….

“In other words, you can increase the level of your happiness right now by simply eating healthy and developing a strict regime of physical exercise to rejuvenate and control your body.”

A recent research conducted by the University of Kent and the University of Reading has concluded that fruit and vegetable consumption, served with regular exercise can increase levels of happiness in humans.

We all know that healthy eating and exercise promotes good health. What is probably new is their audacious connection to happiness. The findings unambiguously link the level of one’s happiness to lifestyle choices, rather than the accumulation of wealth or successful relationships which most people consider to be important determinants of happiness.

In other words, you can increase the level of your happiness right now by simply eating healthy and developing a strict regime of physical exercise to rejuvenate and control your body.

Healthy lifestyle choices enhance one’s sense of being in control of what goes into the body and how well the body is deployed and maintained. Developing a conscious sense of wellness and regenerative approaches to personal health helps to boosts self-image and confidence, ultimately contributing to individual happiness.

Similarly, unhealthy lifestyle choices would definitely lead to body disrepair, and develop problems such as obesity, frigidity and various illnesses with devastating consequences for self-esteem and mental health. Where such insecurities are prevalent, they secrete negative emotions that affect happiness.

But what is happiness, to begin with? Do we all agree that happiness is characterized by feelings of mental and physical contentment and satisfaction with oneself and one’s current situation in life?

Unfortunately, I did not find much material in the study to satisfy my curiosity on it, but granted we all agree that the definition of happiness is acceptable, the question to be asked is “Do all humans achieve happiness by the same means?” Is achieving happiness akin to going to heaven by the same dusty road?

Ultimately though, everybody wants to be happy. We all think that if we find happiness, life will be more fulfilling and everything will be great. But feelings of happiness, like the waves of the sea, come and go, leaving us feeling empty!

A couple told me that if they have enough to eat, a comfortable place to live, one or two vehicles in the garage spiced with a loving relationship, they would consider themselves to be happy.

But a business tycoon who has everything the couple wish to achieve in order to feel happy says he does not consider himself happy by his acquisition. His riches cause him many bouts of anxiety and stressful reactions every now and then. For him, happiness is an elusive concept existing in the mind of dreamers.

And yet we know about many others who depend on stimulants for their own form of happiness, and many others who obtain happiness from religion, or the lack of religion.

It is a complex concept then, this feeling of happiness. And many people may never find it no matter how hard they try!