All humans are active participants in the pursuit of happiness. Many people pursue happiness by seeking events or circumstances outside of themselves: a relationship, a promotion, a new home, or some form of public approval. An internal focus, having an attitude of happiness, is likely to bring longer lasting, happier results.

What Is Happiness?
Happiness is an emotion, a feeling of well being. As such, it defies specific definition, yet is so universally felt as to be instantly understood by everyone. We know when we’re happy and when we’re not. It is highly likely that everyone has felt happiness at some time in their lives.

Research Studies of Being Happy
Researchers find there are three components to happiness. According to Martin Seligman, Ph.D., in Authentic Happiness, Free Press, 2002, one of these components is genetic. Each of us has a certain happiness set point, which is the base to which we return after both positive and negative excursions.

The second component Seligman describes is cultural. Family influence during childhood affects how we approach and view life. Seeing the glass as half full or half empty is, at least initially, something we learn. We can change this component by how we think, but changing core beliefs is often difficult.

The third component of happiness Seligman describes is voluntary, the range of activities we undertake with the intention of fostering happy feelings.

Ben Tal-Shahar, Ph.D., Happier, McGraw-Hill, 2007, clarifies that happiness occurs at the intersection of meaning and pleasure. Undertaking activities that we know to be pleasurable and meaningful to us will move us intentionally toward greater feelings of happiness.

Happiness Attitude
Success at having a happy life may depend on our intentions. There’s a difference between hoping to be happy and intending to be happy. The former is a passive approach, wishful that someone or something will approach our lives and bring happiness. Intending to be happy is an active approach, an attitude of consciously constructing one’s life to maximize happiness content.

Foster a Happiness Attitude
Determine your level of average or overall happiness. Ask and honestly answer the question, “Am I generally happy with my life?” In addition, fill out one or more happiness questionnaires . Next decide if you want to take actions to be happier.
Consider your expectations. Being happy describes a wide range of emotion from satisfaction to outright joy. It’s unrealistic to expect to be continuously joyous, say authors Robert Biswas-Diener and Ben Dean, Positive Psychology Coaching, Wiley, 2007. Moments of sheer joy are to be appreciated and savored, but recognize that when the moment passes, it is natural to return to one’s average set point.
Question any deeply held beliefs that seem to lead you into unhappy states. Beliefs are simply thoughts about a topic. They are not necessarily absolute truths, but may seem that way until questioned.
Intentionally structure life to include those activities that are both pleasurable and meaningful. Both are important to a feeling of happiness.
The Happiness Attitude
Consciously setting your attitude toward the intention of being happy provides the vision that will subconsciously guide you toward happier circumstances.