How to raise your happiness bar.

Image from: The Atlantic

What is a happiness bar?

We all have a general level of happiness we feel. Some people wake up with a big smile, some wake up with something else. But however it is that we generally feel in day-to-day life is called our happiness bar — an emotional set point or level.

Now, of course, when good or bad things happen, we feel a certain way about them, whether it’s good or bad. But if this reaction doesn’t last longer than a few days, that’s just a reaction. For example, buying a new pair of football boots — you’ll love them for a bit, but soon enough they become just your football boots. What I’m saying is that we always find our way back to our general level of happiness, our bar.

Can this change?

Simply put, yes. If we make long-lasting changes that are not materialistic, we can have a lasting effect on our happiness and raise our set level.

For example, if we have been isolating ourselves, we will naturally become less healthy and happy for a long time. Or, if we move out of an uncomfortable living situation, we will find ourselves more grateful for our environment and situation, raising our happiness.

Lowering our happiness bar is defined as languishing. This happens when many different negative occurrences come into our lives and…