Lyubomirsky's Three Types Of Happiness Strategies

In order to increase our happiness, we need to engage in happiness strategies. These strategies are daily activities statistically proven to increase happiness based on data collected from following happy people. However, before Lyubomirsky discusses her twelve main, recommended strategies, she prefaces part two with addressing the issue of individuality. Every individual has unique interests, values, and needs and, for that reason, every individual has an individual path to finding happiness; there is no magic one way, one stop cure. Lyubomirsky outlines three types of fits happiness activities can have with an individual: fit with the source of the individual’s unhappiness, fit with the individual’s strengths, and fit with the individual’s lifestyle (p. 70). …show more content…
If one is able to identify their source of unhappiness, they can use happiness strategies geared toward working on this weakness. On the flip side, strategies can be fit with one’s strengths. For more goal-oriented people, finding out what they are good at and then using strategies to derive more pleasure from these activities may be the most beneficial. The final fit outlined is fitting happiness strategies to one’s lifestyle. If one has a busy life, taking a significant amount of time out of their day for happiness strategies may actually increase the stress the individual is going through. Instead, more busy individuals ought to utilize happiness strategies that take little time out of the day, such as practicing gratitude. To help in determining which activities are most beneficial, Lyubomirsky provides a Person-Activity Diagnostic which matches an individual to four possible happiness