I recently learnt there were four levels of happiness. And it made me think that while we’re trying to be happy, we may be unknowingly contributing to our stress and why we’re tired all the time. Here are some thoughts. (This could be long so I’ve broken it into parts)
The four levels of happiness:
Laetus (immediate happiness gained from material objects) Laetus Happiness is short lived; it is simply about sensual gratification based on things.
Felix (ego gratification, achievements) This happiness comes from comparison: being better, looking superior to others, to be more admired than others etc.
Beatitudo (contributive): This happiness comes from doing well for others and making the world a better place.
Sublime Beatitudo (enduring, eternal): This is the ultimate happiness, it is perfect happiness. This happiness is the most difficult to describe. It involves a search for completeness and fulfilment.
Laetus: Focusing on things.
Letaus happiness is about things and we get a hit of dopamine with each pleasurable thing we get! How cool! But it is also short lived. So we seek the next short term thing? Seeking things takes energy. Not having the thing causes stress - because we want the thing. (duh!)
While there is no harm in having and seeking things, have we become too focused on the short term pleasure hit? And then, when we seek the other, higher levels of happiness, we have no energy to pursue them. But we want to be happy so we look to the nearest thing at hand, which is short term.
This could be a new object (phone, TV, computer, necklace, shirt/blouse …). It could be acceptance by others. Being in the in crowd. If we are in the in crowd, joy! If not, anxiety!
A friend of mine once said, “Any city is easy to live in if you have money.” This is because we need to have things to sustain us and not having those things is going to cause grief, stress and anxiety. But we have taken this further by wanting things we don’t, if we were honest with ourselves, need. And to those who have little resources, it is stressful not being able to get the basics of life, comfort and safety - however you define those things.
This can prompt a “Why am I stressed? I have everything I need?” response.
Let’s Play a Game
We see our social circle with a new thing and we think, “I wonder what that might be like? It looks exciting!” Energy. We check it out and would like to have it. Energy. But we know it’s not necessary. We rationalise how we could justify the purchase or procurement. Energy. We decide to buy it. Energy. We love it! Best thing ever! Energy. Buyers Remorse sets in. Energy. This didn’t fulfil my life! Energy. I work out a way to return it. Energy.
Hopefully you get the idea!
What are you saying?
I’m not saying we should not have new things. I’m not saying we shouldn’t look at ways to improve our lives and be happy.
What I am asking is, if we focus on this first level of happiness, Laetus, are we contributing to the stress of our lives and depleting energy we cannot afford, long term, to deplete? And when we ask ourselves, “Why am I so stressed?”, is it self inflicted? The good news is, if it is self inflicted, it can be self remedied!
A question to ask yourself: “Is the thing you want, or the things you want, actually contributing, in some way, to your stress and anxiety in a negative way?”
Thanks for starting with a picture of a dog! That lowered my stress right away!