This week, I had a friend and my mother randomly ask me what will make me happy. I responded that good health, gratitude, peace, warm weather, and financial freedom will contribute to my happiness. I know from experience that happiness can elude me if I don’t consistently express gratitude for what is going well in my life. Happiness is subjective, but in general associated with increased employment opportunities, community involvement, social relationships, physical and mental health.

Happiness is considered so essential to mental health that institutions including Yale and Harvard have added classes about it to their undergraduate and MBA programs, respectively. The Yale course entitled “The Science of Well-Being” is currently offered for free online, and over 3 million people, including me, have registered for it. I’m only two days into the course; however, I have discovered my character strengths by taking a survey offered through the VIA Institute of Character. The course states that positive character strengths affect your mindset and behavior.

According to the Wall Street Journal, students of the Harvard MBA course, “Leadership and Happiness”, are taught to foster their teams’ happiness and their own. The course encourages students to focus on four areas (family, friends, meaningful work, faith or life philosophy). The instructor, Dr. Arthur Brooks, states balancing these areas are important in maintaining happiness. Students who have taken the course report they have become more empathetic to the needs of their team, focus more on the present than the future, and take more time to celebrate their accomplishments.

Sheldon & Lyubomirsky published a peer-reviewed article in March 2021 that challenges if happiness can be successfully pursued. The article evaluated three models of happiness: Eudaimonic Activity Model (EAM), Hedonic Adaptation Prevention Model (HAP), and Positive Activity Model (PAM). EAM  “specifies that the pursuit of happiness involves trying out different kinds of goals, values, behaviors, and activities, to determine which ones bring one satisfaction and happiness.” HAP states that happiness is sustained by finding different ways to appreciate what you already have (e.g., home, partner, job, family). PAM specifies that happiness is dependent on individuals’ culture and the frequency of positive activities. Sheldon & Lyubomirsky concluded that happiness can be pursued but it is not simple. People should create and maintain an environment for themselves which nurtures their happiness.