Are You Satisfied With Your Life?

What emotions does this title evoke inside of you?🤔

“Are you satisfied with your life?” is a big question to be asked and your response is not one to be thought of frivolously or to be taken lightly. It can provoke both strong and confusing feelings, feelings that you didn’t expect to feel, feelings that make you feel uncomfortable to acknowledge, and feelings that make you uncertain about your life path😨. All of these responses although they may be scary are completely valid, and you are not alone in feeling them 🤗.

It can feel daunting to even think about contemplating how this question makes you feel. Then isolating your focus on your thoughts and feelings and genuinely considering how satisfied you are with your life can be overwhelming. But, it doesn't have to be like this❌. You are in the driving seat, this is your life and you are in control🚗. You can make positive changes to help improve your life satisfaction if that is something you are interested in doing👏. Importantly, you don’t have to do this alone. Happio is right here with you, in the passenger seat.

👉 What is Life Satisfaction?

Philosophers, psychologists, scholars, and researchers alike have provided many definitions of life satisfaction. 👆Ed Diener (2002), a leading researcher in the field of positive psychology, defined life satisfaction as an individual's cognitive and affective evaluation of his or her life. 👆Ruut Veenhoven (1996), a highly respected scholar of life satisfaction has defined life satisfaction to be the degree to which a person positively evaluates the overall quality of their life as a whole, it is how much the individual like the life they lead. 👆Esteemed researchers Doh Shin and Dan Johnson (1978) have defined life satisfaction to be an individual’s self-evaluation of their quality of life which they determine using their own rules.

👉 "Am I Satisfied With My Life?"

If you would like to explore this question further and receive a credible, valid, and reliable score of life satisfaction. Then you may want to check out our new Life Satisfaction psychometric assessment (like a quiz, but backed by science) launching soon✅. This involves you being asked five questions, your answers will range from strongly agree to strongly disagree and the test will only require a few minutes of your time. Based on the results of your responses, you will be provided with tailored recommendations.

👉 “Why am I not satisfied with my life?” is a question asked by many.

If you feel you are not satisfied with your life, please know you are not alone and this unfortunately is a feeling felt by many. But, please be kind to yourself and know this feeling doesn’t have to be a permanent one. Many reasons could be influencing your feeling of dissatisfaction. It has been proposed by Seligman (2012) that five elements contribute to life satisfaction: 🔶 Positive emotion. This includes feelings of happiness, love, hope, and joy to name a few. They can be cultivated or learned to improve well-being (Fredrickson 2001) and experiencing positive emotions can minimise the effects of negative emotions (Tugade and Fredrickson 2004) 🔶 Engagement - This involves being present in the moment and completely focused on the task at hand. Bonaiuto et al (2016) have suggested that participating in the type of activities/hobbies/tasks that you really love and that allow you to lose track of time can help improve your engagement. 🔶 Relationships - This refers to feeling loved, respected, and valued by those we have relationships. Joining a new class or turning acquaintances into friends are great ways to build friendships. 🔶 Meaning - This refers to having a purpose in life which helps you focus on what is important when experiencing adversities. Tang et al (2022) have suggested joining an organization that is important to you to help feel purpose. 🔶 Accomplishments - This refers to competency, achievement, or mastery. Seligman (2013) has suggested that intrinsic goals are better for improving well-being than extrinsic goals (e.g., fame, money)

Some additional factors to consider are detailed below… 🔷 Health Satisfaction - Are you satisfied with your mental and physical health? Are you experiencing poor health, or, recovering from poor health? Are you looking after your health the best you can? Are you engaging in habits that are detrimental to your health? Do you have poor sleep? 🔷 Living Conditions Satisfaction - Do you feel safe in your living environment? Do you like where you live? Do you feel like your space is yours? Do you need to move soon, or have recently moved? 🔷 Financial Satisfaction - Are you satisfied with your ability to budget your money? Are you satisfied with your earnings? Are you stressed about money and the cost of living crisis? 🔷 Personal Relationships Satisfaction - Are you satisfied with your relationships? Are you satisfied with the people you have in your life? 🔷 Hobbies/Leisure Activities Satisfaction - Are you satisfied with the activities you do in your leisure time? Are you satisfied with any hobbies you have? 🔷 Personal Growth Satisfaction - Are you satisfied with your personal growth? Do you make time for self-improvement? Are you satisfied with the effort you're putting into looking after yourself?

👉 “Can you improve your life satisfaction?” 🤔

The big question! And the answer?? (Drumroll please🥁🥁🥁🥁)..... YES, YOU CAN! You can improve your life satisfaction over time! It can be useful to have a life satisfaction score because it can fluctuate and then you can make comparisons over time and identify what makes you feel satisfied and what reduces your feelings of satisfaction.

👉 Statements to Practice.

Sometimes life can just be really overwhelming and it can feel like it is never going to get better. When you are feeling like this, reminding yourself of the things you are satisfied with and grateful for can help boost your mood. Please remember that this isn’t a quick fix, it can take time and be more effective with more practice. I have included some statements for you to incorporate into your life…

✨ I am truly grateful for all the positive aspects of my life. ✨ I am satisfied with where I am at this moment in time. ✨ I’m proud of (insert achievement here, no accomplishment is too small). ✨ I accept where I am now and am excited to continue growing. ✨ I have come a really long way, my progress should not be diminished. ✨ I am not stuck, I can take control of my life and make changes if I wish.

🤗Remember, you are not alone! Happio is right here with you, committed and determined to help you to improve your life satisfaction and live the life you want!🤗