For as long as we have been conscious, humans have spent our entire lives making decision after decision only with the idea that it will bring us happiness or pleasure. Despite all our efforts, however, happiness remains elusive and mysterious. The pursuit of happiness is afforded to us as a right in the United States, but most of us seem to have no idea where that pursuit should lead us. Scientists, philosophers, psychologists and many others study and all have their opinion on happiness, but subjective experience makes it difficult for them to find concrete data. What humans desire most is what we struggle hardest to understand. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayHappiness has only recently become the concern of psychology, but it has worked diligently to understand it. Working together, psychologists were able to develop a graph to measure different aspects of subjective well-being. Through research and studying identical twins, they discovered what is called a “genetic set-point” of happiness. The genetic set point states that 50% of our happiness is determined by our genes and that no matter how happy or upset we are, we always return to our genetic set point. Of course, this is not always true. “Some life events are so severe that victims never recover to their previous set point or level of equilibrium.” (Intoxicating 2). This means that when someone experiences a major trauma, such as the loss of a child or spouse, the genetic set-point is somewhat lowered and the person is generally left unhappy. However, the genetic set-point still leaves room for additional factors that contribute to happiness, so all is not lost. The remaining half is divided, surprisingly, rather unevenly. Life circumstances such as health, job, social status, surroundings, environment and others seem to make up only 10% of our happiness. So, what exactly makes up the remaining 40%? Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D. and professor at the University of California, Riverside, states that, “…there is a lot you can do to become happier, and that 40% is left for intentional type of behavior. .." She, among others, believes that you can control your happiness by consciously changing things in your life or daily routine. Whether it's trying something new for dinner or just sitting in your bedroom instead of the living room, it's important that happiness doesn't fit with what you're doing. “For some people it will be a big change, for others it will be a small change. But this change is important." (Ljubomirsky). As they always say, variety is the spice of life. The most frequently asked question about happiness concerns whether it can be measured or not. Hundreds of psychologists and philosophers have tried to find a way to measure happiness, but it is difficult to measure something that is experienced subjectively. Indeed, for a time happiness was thought to be immeasurable, but Dutch sociologist Ruut Veenhoven and many others have come to disagree. “When defined as a subjective appreciation of one's life, happiness is something that is on our mind, and what is on our mind can be assessed using questions.” (Veenhoven 3). Veenhoven describes a sort of questions they ask subjects to get a general assessment of happiness in all areas by comparing people's answers in a relative way. “An overview of acceptable questions is available in the 'Measures of Happiness' collection of the World Happiness Database.”(Veenhoven 3). They've archived all the appropriate questions to ask to measure happiness and most any other happiness research in this worldwide happiness database for later use. Yet it seems that the more information we accumulate about the concept of happiness, the less we seem to understand about it. One of the many debates on the topic of happiness is whether or not we, as human beings, have control over our happiness. Sure there are many things that influence our happiness from the outside such as the weather, the well-being of our peers and many other social and environmental factors, but can we control it ourselves from the inside? According to JoNell Strough of West Virginia University, we tend to try to control our happiness through a process called “maximization.” “Maximization is a decision-making strategy that seeks the best option, which is more elaborate and potentially induces more regret than choosing an option that is 'good enough'” (Strough 1). Sometimes, when we try our best to choose the best option to maximize our happiness, we end up falling lower than we would have by choosing the not-so-good option. However, this may only be a problem among young people. “In surveys of a large national sample, we found that older adults are less likely than younger adults to self-report maximization, which is associated with their better experienced well-being reported 2 years later.” (Road 1). When we analyze options and compare them to others to determine the best one, we tend to aim high and take a few steps back from where we started. Luckily, as we get older, we tend to break this habit and start settling for the option that is good enough, which actually saves our happiness in the long run. So we definitely have some control over our happiness, but we need to be careful not to abuse it or we may end up paying the consequences. Besides self-control, what other aspects of life can influence our happiness. Well, the answer is many things, but many people seem to believe that money is one of them. America was founded on the idea of ​​working hard and rising to the top of a capitalist system to accumulate as much wealth as possible to have a happy life. It is believed that a strong work ethic will pay off in the long run, giving you the ability to purchase your own happiness. However, in Japan, where there is the highest work ethic and people work longer than in any other country, people's happiness seems to suffer. Tomoyuki Kawada, of the Department of Sanitation and Public Health, has conducted many studies on cases of severe depression and sometimes even death due to overwork in Japan. “The prevalence of mental illnesses, mainly depression, appears to be increasing in many workplaces in Japan [19]. The suicide rate, which began to increase in the mid-1990s, still continues to increase [18]. According to data from the World Health Organization [25], Japan has one of the highest suicide rates among developed countries.” (Kawada 1). People are working very hard in Japan to achieve a stable and happy life, but in the process they are overburdening themselves. A cloud of tiredness hangs over the country's major cities as everyone tries to get the sleep they need during subway rides. Death from overwork is so common in Japan that in the 1970s they created a term for it: Karoshi. There is also Karojisatsu, a form of Karoshi that refers to a person driven to suicide due to stress from overwork. After studying Japan, it's difficultcontinue to propose that money could be the answer to our happiness. On a more positive note, our friends can be a very reliable source of happiness as long as they themselves are happy. There isn't even a downside if they are sad. According to Jennifer Abbasi of Happify Daily, "While having a happy friend increases your chances of being happy by 15%, having an unhappy one only reduces your chances by 7%." Not only can we control our own happiness, but our friends can contribute to it too. "A Harvard Medical School study of 5,000 people over 20 years found that a person's happiness spreads through their social group up to three degrees of separation, and that the effect lasts up to a year. " (Abbasi). That's right, even someone you don't know but is a friend of your friend, or even your friend's friend, can influence your happiness. There is an extraordinary sense of connection within the human race, and it could very well be a gold mine of happiness. Social interaction is also linked to this. When we interact with people in the community on a daily basis, we become happier. Opening the door for someone entering the store, being friendly to the cashier, even smiling at someone can greatly influence not only their happiness, but ours as well. Dr. Art Markman of Psychology Today says, “The interactions we have with other people influence how we feel about life. Our close relationships keep us grounded and influence both happiness and the feeling of being part of a larger community. Interestingly, even our interactions with people we don't know well give us a sense of being part of that larger community. So, whatever you do while you're out and about, don't forget to smile and connect with your community. Who wouldn't want an overall happier neighborhood? It's more contagious than we think. Happiness has always been thought of as an emotional or psychological state, but research shows that happiness has a direct relationship with our biology. British researchers conducted a study involving 228 volunteers whose ages ranged from 49 to 59 years. In the study, volunteers were asked to report their level of happiness during a work day and a day off. Saliva samples were taken and the volunteers also completed a mental stress test. The results showed that those who reported being happier had a lower heart rate, lower levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) in their saliva and lower levels of a plasma linked to heart disease in their blood. Being happy is literally being healthy. Michelle Flythe, author of “The Greater Good,” says, “For years, research has shown that reducing depression, stress, anxiety and other negative states decreases the risk of heart disease and other illnesses.” Happiness is connected to our brain and is part of the system that makes us up, and is in sync with our biology, our health and our mental state. Regardless of depression, anxiety, or other negative psychological states, studies have consistently shown that increased happiness has health benefits. “This suggests that there may be a distinct biology of happiness that brings with it a host of health benefits beyond the benefits of simply not being depressed.” (Flythe). Maybe we should all start adding positive emotion training to our workout routine. In a world where everything from the food we eat, to the weather outside, to the mood our friend of our friends' friends is in, can control our?.