Laws of individual happiness

What have we learnt about ways of having individual happiness? Happiness is not a fixed notion. It is associated with hope, optimism, mastery and coping but these representations are dynamic. They are formulated and reformulated when there is shift in the value system of society (Snyder, 1999). There is a general agreement that cognitive, affective and behavioral processes are interconnected, though the precise nature of causal links is far from being well established (Pervin and John, 1997, 508). Personality factors such as neuroticism/negative emotionality and extraversion/introversion have long been identified as closely associated with physical, emotional and psychological burden (called coping) to stressful events (Watson, et al., 1999, 119-140). Yet, how one can be happy depends on physical condition of body, thoughts, social context, and natural environment. It is observable that man has achieved happiness in all circumstances; it depends on his thinking and emotions. Yet, it is much easier to be happy in personal life than to become a factor in the building of a better society. Perhaps a higher proportion of population ever born on the earth has been happier than the proportion of social organizations which can be classified as just, perfect or harmonious in any sense. Further, in life of a man the level and causes of happiness do not remain fixed. Everything is subject to change. To quote Roy and Srivastava (1986, 194):