Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life by Ken Robinson & Lou Aronica

Author:Ken Robinson & Lou Aronica [Robinson, Ken & Aronica, Lou]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General, Business & Economics, Self-Help, Personal Growth, Education, Success, Motivational, Counseling
ISBN: 9780670022380
Google: ENK1NAEACAAJ
Amazon: 0670022381
Publisher: Viking
Published: 2013-05-21T07:00:00+00:00

What Is Happiness?

Happiness is not a material state: it is a spiritual one. It is an internal state of well-being. Sonja Lyubomirsky puts it this way: “Happiness is the experience of joy, contentment and well-being combined with a sense that life is good and worthwhile.” True happiness is very different from the ephemeral feelings that come from sudden good fortune. According to Dr. Andrew Weil, “Happiness that comes from winning a bet or from another stroke of good luck is temporary and does not change the set point of our emotional variability,” he notes. “Besides, as we all discover, fortune is fickle. If we hitch our moods to it, we are signing up for lows as powerful as any highs.” Weil argues that emotional well-being is just as important as physical well-being and that we need to create the conditions that allow us to be happy through circumstances within our control. “Happiness arises spontaneously from sources within us,” he says. “Seeking it outside ourselves is counterproductive.”

When Weil talks about stretches of true happiness in his own life, he talks about having “a deep knowing that I was all right, on the right track, doing what I had been put here for. . . . I had much to be happy about in the usual sense, much good fortune, but the deeper feeling came from knowing that I was the person I was supposed to be, uniquely equipped to navigate the world and meet any challenges I might confront.” In other words, he felt true happiness when he was in his Element.

Being happy is about engaging your positive emotions. Doing this benefits your whole being: physical and spiritual. Dan Baker puts it this way: “In the ultimate analysis human beings have only two primal feelings: fear and love. Fear compels us to survive and love enables us to thrive . . . Positive feelings increase dopamine and have beneficial effects on the body, especially on our cardiovascular systems. Stress and anxiety have the opposite effect.”

One of the most important things you can do as you try to find your Element is to pay careful attention to your emotional states. Is there something you do that consistently elevates your spirits? When do you experience stretches of real joy? Remember that one of the primary ways that Brian Schwartz helps his clients sort through their interests is by identifying how good they feel when embarking on them. It is critical to identify this as you try to figure out what you’re meant to do.

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