Happiness is a Trap, and Other Things We Don’t Realise

A poem, followed by some research.

Why did we — — — - associate Clapping to, — — — - happiness? I feel like, my body understands it Better than my mind. But of course.

But what about, stomping feet Turning around? Where I come from Where the earth and soil are so brown They reflects darkness, sweet, on the leaves Of the trees. Figs, pines, all types of leaves. Yes, where I come from We stomp feet with angst And with incoming fear for our life Something so small bit us, and we can be No superheroes

Pizzica. Tarantella. Dance dance dance dance Dance faster du duru dudududurutru Dance faster! Du duru dudu…e pizzi pizzi ca Pizzi ca re llaaa Dance faster And stomp your feet Dance faster and sweat (to the beat) Pizzicarella…duduru du du dudururu My nephew Has the sway of the pacific waves And blood erupting in his knees That he bends with rhythm Furniculi furnuculà The volcano erupts Furniculi furniculàà E pizzicarellaa… Duduru… du du duru…he can dance faster Now I get it, yes

I clap my hands He smiles. 9 teeth? 10? I’m so happy.

Happiness and The Happiness Trap

For me, happiness is looking at pictures of my two nephews. But exactly, what is “happening” when we feel happy?

We feel joy in our bodies because of the release of dopamine and serotonin, two types of neurotransmitters in the brain. Both of these chemicals are heavily associated with happiness (in fact, people with clinical depression often have lower levels of serotonin).

So, in other words, what is happening is that we feel the “joy- high” and we relax, or get exited. Being happy does not physically effect only the brain, in fact, the hormones released by the emotions have changing effect on our circulatory system: we flush, our heart races, we feel tiny little butterflies going crazy in our tummies.

And… Why do we feel happy?

Some people argue that all emotions have an “adaptive” and “evolutionary” function. Happiness, for example,

Evolutionary psychologists theorize that happiness was an adaptive advantage. Happiness aided our survival in all sorts of important ways — it made us fitter, more attuned to our environment, more social, more energetic — and because happy people were more apt to survive, they were more likely to pass on their happiness genes. Like all evolutionary adaptations, happiness first occurred as a genetic variation, but persisted because it helped us stay alive.

But, Do We Force Ourselves to be Happy?

If you’re not happy, do you feel like an outcast? Never accepted, ashamed of your feelings, and avoided by others? If yes, I have a feeling that is due to the amount of weight we put on “being happy”, or “looking happy”. Other emotions, sometimes contrasting with happiness, exist and are just as valid.

The Happiness Trap

The happiness trap is mostly the title of a book. But it’s also the idea that suffering, or other difficult emotions, are a natural part of life, and we should not force ourselves to get rid of them.

Think about it… would it be detrimental to force yourself to feel an emotions you don’t feel, just because it’s ascribed as “positive”? What if you had a s**t day? Yes, maybe abandoning yourself to frustration and sorrow is not the best idea either, but why should we pretend? To benefit who?

What we should try to do instead (according to some psychologists) is learn methods to handle pain and unwanted thoughts, use all emotions (good and bad) to create a life that is meaningful, and concentrate of what is important to us. Like really important.

Here, this could be a useful (free and cute) tool:

The-Complete-Visual-Summaries-of-the-Happiness-Trap-Online-Program-2019.pdf

Try to be happy, but also, don’t try too hard!

Thank you to R. Rangan Ph.D. for tagging me into this prompt for the Science and Soul series.

I was inspired for this by

1. the original story:

Happiness Practices. Sciku inspired by Science of Happiness | Science & Soul (medium.com)

2. One of my nephews, who dances to every type of music.

3. Three songs: Baby Shark, Pizzicarella, and Furnicula’.

Baby Shark — featuring Finny The Shark | + More Kids Songs | Super Simple Songs — YouTube

Funiculi Funicula — Beautiful Neapolitan Song (Original Neapolitan Lyrics & English Translation) — YouTube

4. Two books: Emotional Intelligence, and The Happiness Trap.

This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition.

I would love to tag some other writers that may be interested in the Prompt:

yesnodunno, Annamaria Illiano, La campana di vetro, Carlos Garbiras, Terry Mansfield, Mattia Zaminga, Roberto Quezada-Dardon

From the original prompt-story:

**This story is part of the S&S Prompt series — science-inspired prompts to get you inspired — Our dear readers — have a little fun exercising your artistic creativity and write a science-inspired story — the format is entirely up to you — haiku, sciku, limerick, poetry, prose, painting, etc. — if you do — feel free to publish it anywhere on medium, just tag it with #SnSPrompt.