We often come across terms as “subjective well- being”, “psychological needs”, “happy”, “sad” and so on. There are various areas where satisfaction could/could not play a potential role in the determination of one’s own happiness. But then, does momentary happiness depend on the psychological need of the hour? Well, this is quite debatable and there are individual differences that could determine high or low levels of life satisfaction that experienced greater or lower levels of happiness.
Life satisfaction is actually simple but can be a complex term and we make it even more complicated by contemplating and discussing this interchangeably term with the emotion of happiness. It is one’s evaluation of life as a whole, rather than just the emotions and feelings we go through in that specific moment.
Happiness can be so immediate. It could be an in the moment feeling on seeing a beautiful butterfly or swimming in a pool. There is no big or small picture. It is the now feeling. Our own cognitive thoughts contribute to our judgements and decisions to happy or sad moments. We choose our own well-being by our own thinking.
There could be various sources of satisfaction that contribute to an individual’s innate feelings of happiness. We experience emotions that at times cannot be expressed. The suppression of these feelings tends to aggravate the innermost feelings. Be frank, Just say it, Express. Speak up. This will lighten the heart. Many of us keep feelings built in and this suppression is detrimental. We fear failure and rejection. It is always better to express rather than suppress. Atleast you will not regret not having said it. Well, variables such as mental health, our energy levels, our nature, etc correlate to satisfy people but it is still debateable whether these contribute to life satisfaction that would lead to happiness.