What Really Makes Us Happy?
If you ask this question to ten people, the chances are that
you'd be getting ten different answers. Which only goes to show
you that there's not a single recipe for happiness.
To some individuals happiness mean winning the lottery to end
all lotteries. Enabling them to live a life of luxury and
wealth. Then eventually moving on to bigger and better things,
like living in the famous mansion somewhere in Beverly Hills.
This way they can hobnob with their celebrity neighbors, and
play golf over the weekend. As if this is not enough, they go on
ahead and develop their own reality TV shows, starring none
other than themselves, of course.
But funnily enough to some other folks, those who live and die
by the words: Money doesn't buy happiness. Happiness to them
could be just as simple as looking at 'a crowd of golden
daffodils', to quote a very famous line of a poem by William
Wordsworth.
So what really is happiness? And how do you get it? Do some
people have a genetic predisposition towards happiness? Is there
such a thing as a happy gene?
Is there a scientific explanation to this giant smile that
breaks on your face every time you see your high school crush
walking down the hallway on your way to Geometry class?
It has been know that endorphins, (a hormone that is responsible
for making us kind of happy) induces a certain feeling of
euphoria. This is the happy buzz that you get when you eat tons
and tons of chocolate. Ask any chocoholic who has landed his or
herself in rehab, and they'll attest to this happening.
Endorphins is also released when you are exercising. It is the
chemical considered to be responsible for the phenomenon called:
runner's high.
Runner's high is the feeling of exuberance that runners get when
they have been aggressively running after a certain amount of
time. Due to this continuous exertion their bodies release
endorphins.
Endorphins have also been known to elevate our moods. But is
this small feeling of gladness can really be enough to be called
happiness? Well let's see