Is it related to our character whether we are happy or not? Or does our character change when we have found happiness? Who knows. According to science, the following characteristics are particularly typical of happy people.
Being happy is not always that easy, after all it is not in our own hands alone. However, according to science, certain traits can increase the likelihood of a happy life, and some personality traits can in turn reveal or enhance happiness. Which ones, for example, are explained by the physician Michael Kunze and the journalist Silvia Jelincic in their book “The Happiness Compass.
7 traits that happy people have in common
You are curious.
Whether luck makes you curious or curiosity makes you happy, the two often seem to go hand in hand. A team of psychologists from California, for example, when evaluating various studies on the connection between happiness and success, noticed that happy people are usually particularly open-minded and interested, both in their fellow human beings and in what is happening around them. Happy people are more likely to go through life with an open, inquiring attitude – they ask questions instead of judging, form their own opinions instead of believing others.
You are cooperative.
In addition, the Californian scientists noticed during their analysis that happy people are usually team players and cooperative. Those who are happy seem to get along with other people comparatively easily and to be able to adapt to them – but perhaps those who can do this also have a particularly high chance of being happy.
You are creative.
While unpleasant emotions such as sadness and fear drain our energy and limit our productivity and mental performance, pleasant feelings such as joy, gratitude and contentment have the opposite effect: They inspire us and give us energy. This is proven by several studies from brain research and psychology. On the other hand, it can increase our feeling of happiness even more when we see that we have achieved or accomplished something. Both explain why the above-mentioned scientists from California were also able to record a statistically significant connection between creativity and satisfaction as part of their analysis.
You are flexible.
If happy people are typically curious, it is obvious that they are also open to new things and therefore have a certain flexibility and willingness to change. There is also some evidence that it is easier to be happy with these qualities than without them: Change and change are an essential element of life and having a problem with them can definitely stand in the way of happiness and well-being. In fact, two social psychologists from London were able to show in an experiment that variety in life increases our feeling of happiness: test subjects whom they asked to try something new every day (e.g. a new way to work, a new restaurant, a new shower gel) felt already happier after ten days than at the beginning of the experiment.
You are friendly.
We now know from numerous studies: Treating other people in a friendly way makes you happy – not only for the others, but for us too. Just by wishing other people something positive in our thoughts, we can increase our feeling of happiness. On the other hand, happy people tend to find it easier to be kind and forgiving with those around them. So again we are obviously dealing with an interactive connection.
They deal with their uncomfortable feelings.
If something happens to us that burdens us, we recover better from it and become happy again more quickly if we deal intensively with this experience and process it. Happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky found this out in an experiment in which she had two test groups deal with a negative result in different ways: those people who talked a lot about their bad experience and consciously dealt with it were happier and mentally healthier after four weeks than the trial participants, who only casually addressed their pain.
In the case of positive experiences, however, the opposite is true, as Sonja Lyubmirsky found: those who analyzed and questioned them intensively felt less happy afterwards than people who did not think much about them.
You have a relaxed attitude towards happiness.
The English philosopher John Mill wrote in his autobiography: “Happy are only those who fix their thoughts on something other than their own happiness.” And happiness research actually agrees with him. The psychologist Iris Mauss, together with some colleagues, was able to prove that people for whom it is particularly important to be happy are mostly unhappier than others. Above all, striving for happiness, i.e. working towards an event that we hope will make us happy, is detrimental to the feeling of happiness – among other things because it is associated with an increased risk that expectations will be disappointed.
People who have a relaxed attitude towards happiness tend to be best prepared for the reality – when nobody is happy all the time. They can embrace happiness and rejoice when it comes, but don’t see it as the end of the world or failure when they go through a period of dissatisfaction. They have an idea of where they find their happiness, but know that it may actually be somewhere else. They also recognize that what makes them happy today may not be right for them tomorrow—but that doesn’t make it any less valuable today.
Source used: Dr. Michael Kunze, Dr. Silvia Jelincic: “The happiness compass. All the knowledge in the world about happiness in one book.”