Finding Happiness
Posted by Improving Lives Counseling | Articles
“Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth. Clap along if you know what happiness is to you.”
People worldwide were singing, dancing, and clapping to Happy, a catchy tune by Pharrell Williams, even the 33% of “unhappy” Americans as reported in a 2013 poll. With the attachment of politics to polls, it is difficult to say how many Americans are truly unhappy or how many would admit unhappiness to a stranger on the end of a telephone line, or in an online survey. We do know, however, unhappiness is real and if not treated it can lead to low self-esteem, anxiety, disease, pain, and depression. We know the way a person identifies oneself directly affects that person’s level of happiness and the way that person perceives the world, the workplace, family, and friends can have a similar affect. Linked to physical ailments and often diagnosed as depression, unhappiness can be treated. The counselors and therapists of Improving Lives Counseling Services diagnose and treat feelings of unhappiness in children, teens, and adults.
Recent research shows there is a direct link between health and the level of unhappiness. Belly fat is connected to stress, headaches to emotional health, and longevity to levels of unhappiness. Related effects of unhappiness on physical health include a weakened immune system, the manufacture of chemicals and toxins harmful to cellular health, and an increase in major illnesses such as heart attacks, cancer, and strokes. Unhappiness stifles physiological triggers, affects cortisol levels, and distresses the creation of antibodies. A Harvard study found “70% of men who were unhappy at 50 had died or were chronically ill by age 65”.
Spouses ask one another if they are happy, parents ask children, children ask aging parents, and family doctors often ask adolescents and teens, yet our team of counselors and therapists will tell you it takes more than a simple question to judge someone’s level of happiness, particularly in today’s society where giving the right response is more popular than an honest response. Leading emotionally balanced lives, eating well, and exercising are just as important to happiness as setting and achieving goals, forming networks of friends, and finding satisfaction in jobs and relationships.
Are you unhappy, experiencing financial or personal hardships, have difficulty finding a job, overwhelmed socially, feeling left out, alone, unwanted, or unneeded? Don’t take it lightly; “Don’t worry be happy“, is difficult when the poison of unhappiness is real. We can help. Improving Lives Counseling Services offers individual, family, and group sessions, many of which are covered by health insurance. We accept SoonerCare and Medicaid and we now offer online video counseling. Live the life you deserve to live; call us.
