As the new year begins, it seems natural to reflect on our happiness as an individual. Judging from the number of self-help books on the topic, Americans seem to be asking themselves that question more frequently. The answer, however, may not to bring a smile to your face.
Remembered Happiness is more of a “big picture” perspective on our state of happiness. It is how we think about ourselves overall. It’s how we answer the question, “Am I happy in life?” It’s how we remember our vacations, our years in high school, holidays with the family, or the early years of life with kids, our divorce, or our work history.
Experienced happiness is very different, but equally important. Imagine someone asks you randomly, “How happy are you at this very second?”. Experienced happiness is the moments of joy, bliss, relief, laughter you have throughout the day.
Putting it all together
Remembered Happiness and Experienced Happiness don’t always match. For example, millionaires as a whole rate their remembered selves higher than people who only make $50,000 a year. But the millionaire may have a bigger house to look after, more responsibilities and pressure at work and a more demanding spouse. So, they may, in fact, have fewer moments of experienced happiness throughout the day and live life less happily. On the other hand, the person who rates themselves as less happy because they don’t have the level of luxury they’d like to have, might, in fact, take day-to-day pleasure in their job or in their garden or in their kid’s success at school and have many moments of bliss in their day. The True Happiness test measures both facets of your life for one universal score. If you’re curious about how your happiness level measures up against general standards, take the Blue Zones’ True Happiness Test, which measures how you remember and experience your life and the influence of your environment on your happiness.
Remembered Happiness is more of a “big picture” perspective on our state of happiness. It is how we think about ourselves overall. It’s how we answer the question, “Am I happy in life?” It’s how we remember our vacations, our years in high school, holidays with the family, or the early years of life with kids, our divorce, or our work history.
Experienced happiness is very different, but equally important. Imagine someone asks you randomly, “How happy are you at this very second?”. Experienced happiness is the moments of joy, bliss, relief, laughter you have throughout the day.
Putting it all together
Remembered Happiness and Experienced Happiness don’t always match. For example, millionaires as a whole rate their remembered selves higher than people who only make $50,000 a year. But the millionaire may have a bigger house to look after, more responsibilities and pressure at work and a more demanding spouse. So, they may, in fact, have fewer moments of experienced happiness throughout the day and live life less happily. On the other hand, the person who rates themselves as less happy because they don’t have the level of luxury they’d like to have, might, in fact, take day-to-day pleasure in their job or in their garden or in their kid’s success at school and have many moments of bliss in their day. The True Happiness test measures both facets of your life for one universal score. If you’re curious about how your happiness level measures up against general standards, take the Blue Zones’ True Happiness Test, which measures how you remember and experience your life and the influence of your environment on your happiness.