In her address on “Three Paths to Happiness" in Pennsylvania Psychological Association Convention, Wallin (2008) made a distinction between three concepts which are often used interchangeably. They are as follows :

• The pleasant life, which refers to enjoyment of sensory pleasures, such as food, aromas, music, roller coasters, sex, hot showers;

• The engaged life, which refers to a long term engagement in purposeful and meaningful activities; and

• The meaningful life, which refers to using one’s strength to work for something larger than self, e.g., community or society, i.e., for something beyond the self.

Ryff (1989) suggested that psychological well-being refers to concepts of self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. Ryff said that positive psychological functioning has three aspects:

• A short term affective aspect of feeling happiness;

• Acognitive aspect of satisfactory life; and

• Features such as autonomy, personal growth and positive relationships with others.