If you think you are happy, are you really happy?

Gretchen at the Happiness Project (yes, that's it's real name) asks a question that is worth answering, "If you think you are happy are you happy?" She didn't say it, but if not that would mean there was some sort of alternate measure of happiness that should be used instead.

Let's explore this more.

If I feel tall, but am only 5'1", then I'm not tall despite my feelings. If I feel productive but haven't done any work, it's pretty easy for my boss to take issue with my declarations--feelings notwithstanding. However, what possible measure is there for happiness that is more accurate or appropriate than my own feelings. If I'm happy, then aren't I happy?

Some might say (as Gretchen offers) that it is just the Placebo Effect at work. But does the cause of your happiness make you any less happy? Perhaps the Placebo Effect is the key to happiness. So-called "Positive Psychologists" might tell us that the key to being happy is believing your happy or acting happy.

Gretchen commented on a study she had read that...

...showed that people who participate in psychotherapy, or in programs to lose weight or to stop smoking, often claim a lot of benefit—even though on average they improve only modestly. Apparently when people spend a lot of time, money, and energy on a program, they conclude that they’ve seen a lot of improvement. Memory is a tricky thing.

Can you be tricked into believing you are more happy? As with the above, it's not clear that you can trick yourself into being happy without being happy thereby eliminating the trickery. If you are happy, you are happy.

Why does this matter? We spend an incredible amount of time, money and energy trying to do things that will make us happy. Perhaps the most important thing however is just acting happy. Maybe it won't get you all of the way there but there is an increasingly amount of evidence that it helps and isn't being just a little bit more happy worth just a little effort?

The Happiness Project is a good place to start. Especially Wednesdays which is "tip day," think of it as a LifeHacker for feeling good.