How to achieve two types of happiness

This weekend, my colleagues from The Recent York Times Magazine publish a special problem about happiness: how to define it, discover and raise.

In particular, I loved the quiz entitled “What makes you elated?” I had fun to answer the questions, but it also made me think.

It turns out that happiness can be grouped into two main categories, and the concept reaches archaic Greece. One type is called Eudaemonic well -beingwhich you can consider to be the meaning and purpose in your life. The second is called Hedonic well -beingWhich means feeling pleasure and avoiding pain.

Both, as scientists say, are vital to develop.

I asked my colleague Laura Bennett, an editor in the Times magazine, who developed a quiz about telling me more.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Can we start with several examples of two types of happiness?

For hedonic well -being, think about eating a stunning cookie, laughter from a witty post in social media or rest at the fireplace during a snowstorm.

Meanwhile, eudaemonic well -being refers to a deeper sense of meaning and goal that can come, say, feeling a sense of mastery on challenging work, volunteering in the community and connecting with loved ones.

And experts say you need both, right?

Yes, although of course there are no universal guidelines for happiness, some researchers believe that you are too scared in one direction if your well -being is over 75 percent of hedonic or eudaemonic.

What happens if your life has many straightforward pleasures and not so significant joy?

The study is quite clear that eudaemonical happiness is associated with powerful relationships.

First of all, I would say: look for people in your life who make you feel fully, and try to prioritize to spend time with them. From time to time, send a random text of the briefing to your beloved friend, with whom you have not talked for some time.

In addition, cultivating modern skills or hobby can be a great source of eudaemonic well -being, regardless of whether you take weight lifting, sketching landscape scenes or learn a modern language.

What happens if someone has lithe on hedonic happiness?

Find diminutive things to do that bring you pleasure and excitement at the moment, whatever that means to you. When I am looking for a diminutive dose of hedonic happiness, I will plan diminutive adventures for my family, for example, say, beach picnic. I also have a beloved list of playback that my husband describes as “bad pop music for teenagers”, and listening to it also gives me a reliable shock of hedonic pleasure.

Why are you asking people, did they have a “witty sexual meeting”?

It seemed that the discussion of hedonic happiness without asking about sex!

Initially, I formulated this question as “yes Good Sex ”and one of the wise researchers who cooperated with us pointed out that” good sex “, thanks to the fact that you feel emotionally associated with another person, can be considered eudaemonic.

It simply shows how challenging “happiness” is to define – and how many ways to access it.

My result revealed that I am a “flourish”. What about you?

Listen, JANCEE, I don’t want to brag, but I am also to “bloom”. Did I have a rock in my own favor when I invented these questions? Who can say? But regardless of this I was delighted with hedonically.

You can take a quiz laurel here. Also in this issue: a story with the longest-acting study of happiness, exploration of “the happiest country in the world”-and some tips of happiness from yours.

Last thing: I plan to write about “ICK” – a sudden feeling of disgust that can arise around the potential interest in love, caused by mannerism or action.

If you want to share the “Icks” you have experienced, write to me at well_newsletter@nytimes.com. I can exploit them in the upcoming column.

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