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«The Nature of Happiness: Is it a Choice or a Result?» Essay by Michael Cheadle

According to Britannica: “happiness, in psychology, is a state of emotional well-being that a person experiences either in a narrow sense, when good things happen in a specific moment, or more broadly, as a positive evaluation of one’s life and accomplishments overall – that is subjective well-being.”

My summary of the above is that happiness is either an experience when you feel momentary joy, or it is a long-lasting feeling accompanied by positive thinking, gratitude and satisfaction. In my view, subjective well-being is like contentedness.
But can you choose to be happy?
Let me give you an example. Recently, my grandmother was very ill. We took her to the Casualty and Trauma Unit at Sandton Clinic. There she was attended to by a kind and concerned doctor. My grandmother was seen by this doctor at 5pm in the evening and he had been on duty since 7am that morning. He must have been tired as his day had been filled with seeing sick and injured people. However, he was cheerful and helpful. He made my grandmother feel relaxed by telling her some amusing jokes while he put up a drip. My view is he gained a great deal of satisfaction from helping sick patients and this made his job worthwhile despite the stress and long hours.

He was, I think, a glass half full type of person. There are a lot of people who take pleasure from the small things in life, like savouring a hot cup of coffee or looking at flowers blooming in the garden. This extract from the famous poem ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ by William Wordsworth illustrates how happiness can be found in small things.

“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” 
The Ipsos global happiness survey conducted in March 2022 found that, on average across thirty countries, two out of every three adults considered themselves to be happy. Out of the countries surveyed, happiness was most prevalent in the Netherlands, Australia, China, Great Britain, and India where more than 80% of participants in the survey said they were happy.

The survey found that across the world, the following factors were common requirements for the achievement of happiness: health and mental wellbeing, family, and purpose. These three factors were followed by living conditions, feeling safe and in control, being in nature, having a meaningful job, and having more money.

On the other hand, some people cannot achieve subjective well being due to mental health issues like depression or due to circumstances such as war or starvation. However, happiness is not exclusive to people who have more. Poor people can be cheerful and happy with their families.

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*image from Pexels, copyright free

Author’s Bio

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Michael Cheadle is a student in Johannesburg, South Africa. Together with Robbie Cheadle, Michael has co-authored eleven books in the Sir Chocolate books series, two books in the Southern African Safari Adventures series, and Haunted Halloween Holiday. Michael also has nine poems and a charcoal artwork in a poetry collection, Square Peg in a Round Hole. You can find Michael Cheadle’s artwork and all his books on Robbie Cheadle’s website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/