The pursuit of happiness spans cultures, religions and societies. It's a cultural obsession that has weaved its way into many facets of our lives and is inevitably linked to meaning and purpose. Unsurprisingly, happiness has also been the source of a plethora of studies. But what really is the key to happiness?
Findings vary, showing that people find happiness in relationships, jobs, location, age and exercise, to name a few. However, recent research may have found an even easier way to live a happy life – storytelling. Specifically, the story of your life.
Your personal story and personality
The way in which you tell your personal narrative, even to yourself, is important. This is because this narrative provides the foundation of your identity, whether you are paying conscious attention to it or not.
Research from Kate McLean and her team explored the idea that, although our personal narratives constantly evolve, they still contain various stable elements that signal inherent traits. The results were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, with McLean describing that 'the stories we tell about ourselves reveal ourselves, construct ourselves and sustain ourselves through time.' In other words, your personal story, in conjunction with your goals, values and traits, reveals aspects of your personality and contributes to your picture of yourself.
Similar research echoes the significance of a person's life story as part of their personality and personal identity. Whilst also highlighting that the way we tell our narratives can also affect our mental health and wellbeing. For example, if you look for the lesson or even positives that come from hardship, it's much more likely that you will enjoy a greater sense of wellbeing in your life. This signals that many of us derive meaning not only from the stories we tell ourselves – but also from how we perceive our life story.
Perception is key
The ability to put a positive spin on your life story can make your life feel more meaningful and support your overall mental wellbeing . This is something positive psychologist Shawn Achor observed when he was a student counsellor at Harvard University. Talking about these revelations in his popular TEDx talk Achor said, 'These students, no matter how happy they were with their original success of getting into the school, two weeks later their brains were focused, not on the privilege of being there, nor on their philosophy or their physics. Their brain was focused on the competition, the workload, the hassles, the stresses, the complaints.' Noticing this, he concluded that happiness comes down to 'changing the lens' of how you perceive your world.
So how can you change the lens and create a more positive life story?
Some techniques that Achor found in his research are:
These techniques aim to retrain the brain to look for the good in every day, as opposed to defaulting to the negative. They empower you to change your self-authoring style to focus on the positive aspects of your life and help you interpret your story in a more constructive light. By modifying your story and inserting the multitude of blessings and wonderful things you experience each day, you move forward in that pursuit of happiness.
If you would like to read about other ways to nurture your own happiness, there are four more techniques explained here.
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