We all want to be happy, but what is happiness; is it a skill we can learn, and what does neuroscience have to say about it? What is happiness? What do you want in life? To be happy? That’s what most of us want -but what is happiness and how do we get it? The dictionary definition of happiness is “feeling or showing pleasure or contentment” But surely there’s more to happiness than a fleeting feeling. Whilst happiness is relative as it means different things to different people depending on circumstance and interest, it would seem there are two distinct types of happiness. Two types of happiness There’s things that make us feel happy, the experiences of things we love doing and we want more of. This is hedonia – pleasure and fun. It’s transitory, in the moment – it happens, it makes us feel happy, and then it’s gone and the moment’s passed. Then there’s a more fundamental type of happiness. The sort of happiness which ideally underlies or underpins our lives. It’s a state of being that comes with being content with yourself without relying on other people or external props. This is wellbeing or ‘eudaimonia’ which captures the idea of living a meaningful life as first described by Aristotle. This sort of happiness is more enduring. Happiness and Brilliant Living When we were thinking about the characteristics of brilliant living, we kept coming back to ideas about happiness because the characteristics of brilliant living equally apply to wellbeing and happiness.  This is what we came up with for starters: Sense of control – being in charge of one’s own destiny, choosing the life you wish to lead, and taking positive action to get it. Inner contentment – both within yourself and your relationships with the world. Purpose – you have a clear concept in mind of what you’d like to achieve in your life which is in alignment with your personal values and how you want to live your life. To love and be loved  – to love oneself and also to give and receive love in its wider form, through friends, family and the intimacy of connections. Self-esteem – recognition of your own worth and a respect for others alongside a need for your own individuality. Achievement  – mastery of your own talents, recognition and respect of your efforts by yourself and others. Fulfilment – experiencing and fulfilling your creative potential. The neuroscience of happiness Is there a scientific basis for understanding what makes you happy? There’s been a lot of scientific interest over the past 10 years into what’s going on in our brains when we experience emotions such as happiness. Developments in neuroimaging have greatly assisted this, as scientists can monitor reactions in the brain in real time. Richard J. Davidson and Brianna S. Schuyler in an article on The Neuroscience of Happiness highlight four constituents or elements of happiness and wellbeing. Happiness and wellbeing levels are higher when people are better able to sustain positive emotion; recover more quickly from negative experiences; engage in empathic and altruistic acts; and express high levels of mindfulness. They looked at how long people held on to positive emotions, because studies monitoring brain functions with fMRI indicate that how long a positive response lasts indicates general levels of wellbeing and happiness. Then how quickly they recovered when really sad things happened. This is where resilience comes in, keeping a high level of wellbeing in the face of adversity. They found recovery from negative events was a good measure of wellbeing. Happy and resilient people of course experience sadness but recover more quickly. The next finding was that one of the strongest predictions of wellbeing is the quality of our social relationships. Add this to the fact that good social bonds are associate