subject: Is Happiness Important To Your Life [print this page] In seeking happiness and its importance, you need to differentiate between happiness and pleasure. Psychologists and philosophers agree that happiness is not necessarily present in what is considered as a being happy. Pleasure is derived from activities such as owning a new car, having sex, or going on a safari. These may not automatically present happiness. This is because pleasure is driven by external stimuli while happiness is driven by internal feeling. Everyone is encouraged to seek the state of happiness because of various reasons of importance to the individual and the society. Here are some of the reasons why you ought to seek happiness.
A happy face is said to lead to good health. This is because happiness which is driven from the inside of men and women is a product of positive energy. Positive energy is a precursor for the well being. Biochemists will tell you that a positive energy is necessary for reduced cell attrition. This works by the reduced amount of free radical that are released when the body is full of positive energy. Negative energy on the other hand leads to production of free radicals which puncture the cell membranes.
In biological terms, again positive energy that comes from being happy would lead to balanced hormone release. The good hormones are released in greater amounts than the bad hormones. Here, good hormones refer to hormones that aid in growth and conservation of energy such as insulin. Bad hormones are those that are released in preparation for flight and are often lead breakdown of energy stores and of cells, an example is the adrenaline hormone. Therefore when one is full of happiness, he or she will be healthy both physically and emotionally.
In being happy, we use more of our right brain side which processes the psycho events. It controls the emotions. Contrast to being sad, happiness demands less energy use by this part of the brain and therefore leads to general better health. With greater function of the right part of the brain, creativity and wit, and fun are enhanced.
A happy person also experiences better social relationships. This is because his or her happy status would lead to equally happy and approachable people. The family members would want to associate with the person. This leads to healthy relationships including better parenting, good and satisfies marital relations among others. At work place, a happy person is more productive than sad persons.
Ilchi Lee emphasizes happiness is also important at global because it promotes the peace among men and therefore problems such as terrorists and wars will be controlled when there is generally happiness in the people of the world. This requires contentment from within.
