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Happiness is the most valued virtue of human life as everyone wishes to have a happy, peaceful and contented life. The article provides the overview of the concept of happiness as the subject matter of positive psychology. The article summarizes diverse definitions of happiness given by various authors and philosophers to provide a holistic understanding of the concept. It also covers the sustainable happiness model (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005) for explaining three major determinants of happiness i.e. set point, circumstances and intentional activities. Finally, the author has suggested some intentional cognitive and behavioural activities for stimulating and enhancing the inner virtue of happiness on the basis of existing researches and his own personal life experiences.
Keywords: happiness, sustainable happiness model
"People wait all weekfor Friday, all yearfor Summer, similarly whole lifefor Happiness."
Happiness is the most valued virtue of human life as everyone wishes to have a happy, peaceful and contented life. But in the current scenario people not only aim at happiness in their own life hut there is also growing support for the idea that we care for the happiness of other people as well and for achieving the same governments should also aim at creating greater happiness for the greater number of citizens (Bentham, 1789). This classic philosophy is not only more accepted these days, but also more practicable, now that scientific research provides more view on the conditions for happiness (Veenhoven, 2005).
In the history of Psychology, the construct of happiness was initially explored in 1950's with the efforts of Humanistic Psychologists who has emphasis over human potential and free will. Later on in 1998 with the efforts of Martin Saligman, who is also known as funder ofPositive Psychology, the researchers had started to devote their time towards studying positive emotions like happiness, gratitude, love, peace, etc. Now, when it comes to defining happiness is most commonly understood as 'how much one likes the life one lives', or more formally, the degree to which one evaluates one's life-as-a-whole positively. A central element in this is subjective 'evaluation' or 'liking' of life, also referred to as 'satisfaction' with life. Though various philosophers, actors, politicians, and everybody in between have all weighed in on their own way. For Example: The ancient...