Identifying Your Happiness Triggers

Are you able to identify what makes you happy?          Image adapted from Pixabay

Do you know when you are happy? How do you work out what makes you happy? Perhaps you just know because of a special feeling you get associated with particular people and events. Maybe you are happiest when you are just sitting in a quiet spot or walking alone at the beach, by a river or in the mountains.

It seems some people have difficulty identifying their happiness triggers. There are now apps available to help them out.

Based on some of my own experiences I believe my happiness is boosted by -

• discovering a new musical group that I just love
• great weather (not necessarily sunny, could be a rainy day)
• getting a good report from the doctor
• my ageing pet getting a good report from the vet
• exchanging a few positive words with a stranger
• time with a true friend
• a really good coffee
• a piece of toasted banana bread spread with real butter
• walking by the river on a cool day watching the water flow
• observing birds
• watching fish swim in a pond
• support from family
• writing
• conquering a skill to do with a computer or other technology
• a really good movie

So what can you do if you can't easily identify your personal happiness triggers?

Keep a journal

You could keep a journal, recording what happens and how you feel. This should help you identify patterns and make you more aware of what makes you happy.

Buy jewellery

No, I am not advocating buying an expensive diamond bracelet or necklace. However, yesterday I read it is possible to buy high tech pieces of jewellery which measure your levels of stress and happiness. Biometric sensors monitor your pulse, temperature of your skin, pattern of breathing, sleep quality and mood. These sensors help the wearer work out which people and events are triggers for stress and happiness.

Download an app

There is a scientific research project investigating what makes people happy. Using an app which can be downloaded from the internet a person is able to track their happiness and what factors contribute to it. Involvement in the project will contribute to the scientific understanding of happiness.

Use your mobile

Read on, this isn't about keeping in touch with family or friends but that could contribute to your happiness. EmotionSense is an app which makes use of a smartphone's sensors to measure the users level of happiness. In addition to data collected automatically by the mobile, users are required to report their mood. The combined information is used to identify what triggers various moods including happiness.

Emotion Sense monitors data including the user's pattern of making calls and sending texts to track how a person is feeling.

I'm not into technology so I don't understand how it can monitor these things and therefore I didn't attempt to go into detail about the workings of these apps and accessories. If technology can help people with their happiness, that is great. For me, I would rather avoid over dependence on technology because it stresses me out when I don't know what I am doing! I am just going to make a coffee and sit outside to watch the birds I can hear chirping. That will make me happy.