The quest for happiness is a fundamental aspiration of human beings. In France, La Fabrique Spinoza has been working for 10 years to “restore happiness to its rightful place at the heart of our society.” This reflection is important at both the individual and collective levels because, even if there are still many areas to explore, how individuals evaluate or appreciate their lives, through thoughts or feelings, is a barometer of their state of stress and health risk factors.
Happiness has also become a subject of study. The Ipsos Institute, in a 2025 report not translated into French, indicates that 6 out of 10 people, across 27 countries around the world, feel rather happy or very happy. The score reached in France is higher, with 80% of the population. Tahar Ben Shahar, a former Harvard professor, has become world-renowned thanks to his training in positive psychology, among the most followed at this prestigious institution. He is a speaker and author of the personal development book “Learning Happiness.” It gives food for thought.
Is cultivating happiness within everyone’s reach? What’s the point of taking courses to achieve it? What lifestyle choices are most likely to lead to daily happiness? This article offers ideas for reflection and action.
What can we think about happiness training?
The UN has designated March 20 as the International Day of Happiness, which is celebrated worldwide.
The scope of this public policy dedicated to happiness has fostered the development of needs and solutions. In France, with the advent of positive psychology about fifteen years ago, courses have proliferated. Their goal is to teach how to mobilize all the strengths and resources that help us feel happy.
Three objectives arise from this:
- to be able to make the life choices that suit us,
- show optimism and recognize opportunities in difficulties,
- Identify and appreciate the good aspects of the present moment and free oneself from anxiety about the future and depression related to the past.
While these training courses can help you become aware of your relationship with happiness, they are not cheap or always effective. Some people even consider it a bit expensive to receive age-old advice that they know and don’t apply enough. The Spanish poet and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936) said: “Happiness is something that is lived and felt, not something that is reasoned and defined.”
So, after reflection, it is necessary to take action!
Is developing happiness a matter of willpower?
What can we say to the 20% of French people in the survey who feel they are far from happiness?
That they lack the will to implement all the training books widely available to them, even in their supermarket bookstores? Certainly not. Here are two reasons:
- Happiness is a vague and subjective concept. It’s not a science, and no one holds the secret. While there may be a set of instructions or recipes applicable to many, not everyone can successfully implement them. Happiness cannot be imposed; it must be patiently cultivated. This doesn’t, of course, prevent us from wanting it for ourselves, while accepting its inevitable fluctuations. Happiness rests on the ability to balance difficult episodes in the scales of life with moments of well-being, serenity, and pleasure.
- Circumstances, environment, personal history, and twists of fate all play a role in our sense of satisfaction and happiness. Individualism pushes everyone to invent and succeed in their own lives. This way of thinking leads us to believe that happiness depends solely on ourselves. To the point of being a right but also an obligation. For example, happiness at work, one of the most important values ​​for employees, also tends to become a marker of their success and their guilt in the event of failure. The standards are high, even though many things outside of ourselves do not always allow us to feel happy.
Do the worries of daily life affect our sense of happiness?
Without mentioning here the pathological anxiety that profoundly handicaps the joy of living, most people feel more or less worry and fear in their daily lives.
Stress disrupts well-being, serenity, and enjoyment of life. Caught up amid this turmoil, we’re not always able to appreciate the good times, maintain optimism, or experience positive emotions and thoughts. It’s difficult to feel gratitude for all the blessings of a happy life when we’re tormented. Could anxiety prevent us from cultivating happiness?
Wendy Suzuki, a professor and director of a neuroscience lab in New York City, believes that bouts of mild anxiety are useful for regularly reactivating the ability to cultivate happiness. In contrast, they recall happy moments and stimulate us to experience them again. How?
What are the easiest choices for cultivating happiness?
Every person is different, and while the need for happiness is universal, there is no single way to achieve and maintain it.
However, there are a few easy-to-implement options that can be cited. They trigger a recurring feeling of happiness in those who enjoy them. There are only benefits to trying them!
Move your body
For Wendy Suzuki, it’s the royal road, acclaimed by scientists around the world because it touches on the physiology of the body.
Through physical activity, neurochemicals are released in the brain, automatically increasing the sensation and awareness of happiness. Anxiety levels decrease, as does stress. While the effect is immediate, its intensity varies and doesn’t last. However, regular exercise trains the brain to maintain protective hormone levels. Ideally, this can be achieved with 45 minutes of brisk walking daily or 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise.
Helping others
Helping someone provides the feeling of satisfaction of being useful and thus increases self-esteem.
By temporarily forgetting your problems, you make room for pleasant thoughts and emotions, and well-being. A generous act also releases serotonin in the brain, a hormone that reduces stress and helps you cope with emotional distress. Have you ever considered the surprising benefits of volunteering? Volunteering isn’t easy every day, and there are, of course, downsides. However, there are countless stories of happy volunteers, which impacted by every aspect of their lives.
Get a pet
In some countries, domestic animals have their legal status as fully-fledged sentient beings.
They experience emotions like joy, love, gratitude… They are part of the family. In their way, they bring well-being, pleasure, and serenity to humans. 9 out of 10 owners admit that they contribute to making them happy. Do you know the power of pets and their incredible ability to bring happiness? This skill is innate in them because they practice it for themselves, much better than their human owners. They listen to their instincts, which guide them toward the best sources of happiness.
Rediscover the joy of playing.
Play is essential for children and contributes to their joy of life.
It is also beneficial for adults. However, many of them are sometimes reluctant. Psychologist Jean-François Vézina is the author of the book “Everything Happens Before 100 Years.” The title is very explicit: play is essential throughout life. Whether it’s playing board games with friends or having fun with your pet, visiting a theme park with family, or sprinkling play into various areas of your life, the benefits of play for adults are inestimable and have nothing to do with regression. Moreover, world history specialists point out that play was reserved for them and stimulated the intellectual and cultural progress of society. Maintaining the ability and pleasure of play also helps delay aging.
Laugh heartily
We easily imagine that we laugh because we are happy.
But the reverse is also true: we can laugh our way to a sense of bliss. Dr. Madan Kataria created laughter yoga in 1995. There are many reasons why laughter is the best medicine. His method doesn’t involve laughing at a joke or a funny story. He prefers to use the social virtue of laughter rather than intellectual logic. He asks participants to use playful gestures or recall childhood games to get back into the mood to laugh. Laughter is highly contagious, and the playful relationships formed between people also stimulate happy hormones. It’s so good for your health!
