How important is being happy? You know the answer. And how important is it for the harmony and effectiveness of fellow athletes or your team? You know that answer too.
We often hear that the source of all happiness lies within you. And to be more precise - about one inch inside of you in a very small chunk of tissue behind your left eyebrow to be exact. It’s called the anterior cingulate cortex. If you had to put your head inside an MRI scanner you can actually see this area light up when you laugh. Try it sometime!
Research shows that happy people have contented relationships. This does not mean that they’re necessarily free of problems, particularly if they’re part of a highly competitive team. It helps if they share a common view with teammates when facing and resolving struggles.
For the record, while I’m perfectly at ease with the idea that good relationships create happiness, I’m also inclined to believe it works the other way around. In other words, even when people are otherwise happy in a relationship they can bring happiness or unhappiness into it from the world outside.
It will come as no surprise to know that happiness has a positive effect on sporting performance and it doesn’t depend on the type of sport engaged in. It’s everything to do with you. What you bring to the party affects the party itself, a truism not just for your personal relationships, but also for life itself.
Each athlete’s life is unique and the way you judge your life is equally personal. You may place great emphasis on your sporting performances by which you measure your own level of life-satisfaction. Alternatively you may regard your family as your life's crowning glory or your wealth, success or sporting celebrity? But these may mean little if they don’t equate with your personal satisfaction. Indeed some of the richest and most famous sports people in history, including recent history, have lived or ended their lives in despair.
Let’s see where you stand on a “happiness” scale by answering the short questionnaire below. It’s not a scientific measurement so don’t consider your results to be a clinical diagnosis! Truth is, whatever your score you are unlikely to be very different from the rest of us.
With each of the following five statements, note the extent to which you agree with the statement by giving yourself a 1 if you STRONGLY DISAGREE, 2 if you DISAGREE, 3 if you feel NEUTRAL about the statement, 4 if you AGREE and 5 if you STRONGLY AGREE.
1. Looking back at the dreams of my childhood or my youth, I think I've done pretty well.
2. People who know me think I've made the best of my life.
3. My parents are (would be) happy about the sort of life I have carved out for myself.
4. Although some people might say there are certain things missing from my life, I regard these things as unimportant.
5. The chance of "living my life over again" doesn't appeal to me.
Now award yourself points for your responses to each of the five statements on the following basis:
1 - STRONGLY AGREE = 7 points
2 - AGREE = 6 points
3 - NEUTRAL = 4 points
4 - DISAGREE = 2 points
5 - STRONGLY DISAGREE = 1 point
Next, check off just one answer for each of the following questions;
Do you believe any one of these to be true?
(a) I am pretty fortunate - I live a fairly charmed life.
(b) Generally I tend to be quite lucky on the whole
(c) Generally I tend to have rather bad luck
(d) Frankly, I don’t believe in luck at all
When you’re feeling happy, do you?
(a) Tend to spend a lot of money
(b) Feel quite normal - your usual happy self
(c) Feel really calm and confident
(d) You don’t really remember
When do you think you were really happy last?
(a) Here and now
(b) Within this last week
(c) More than a week ago
(d) You don’t really remember
What sounds most enjoyable to you?
(a) Seeing someone you really dislike have their comeuppance
(b) Being around cheerful, jolly, smiling people
(c) Seeing a good movie
(d) Going to sleep
On average how many pleasures do you tend to experience every day?
(a) Almost all the time is enjoyable
(b) About 10 times a day
(c) About once or twice a day
(d) I don’t really experience pleasure on most days
Do any of these statements reflect you?
(a) When I tend to be happy, I usually tend to be sad afterwards
(b) I’m generally pretty happy most of the time
(c) I’m neither happy nor sad really
(d) I feel like I’m bursting with happiness
HOW YOU RATED:
LOW SATISFACTION (5-15 points) - For whatever reasons, you seem to be relatively dissatisfied with your life and your expectations have yet to be fulfilled. Though you may question whether those goals will be met at all, this doubt does not automatically prevent you from feeling positive emotions at any time.
MODERATE SATISFACTION (16-25 points) - How you actually feel each day is not always determined by your view of your life. In the mid-zone between the disappointment and full satisfaction and hope, you may occasionally enjoy periods of serenity.
HIGH SATISFACTION (26-35 points) - You seem highly satisfied with your life. Whether it is due to great accomplishments or just a lifestyle that comforts you, you’ve probably gained a strong sense of control and enjoyment over your life.
For questions 6 to 10 inclusive;
Add up all your (a), (b), c and (d) answers.
If you checked off (a) or (d) answers (i.e. say you answered at least four out of the five questions with an (a) or a (d) then you may be prone to some mood swings. Ups, downs, highs and lows, are the ingredients that often make life interesting, but in your case if your mood swings are quite conspicuous, you may feel that you cannot function suitably at times.
If all your scores were ether (a) or (d) then it’s likely you’ll experience periods of exhilaration and peaks of carefree abandon to the extent that you become irresponsible about it. These episodes are usually followed with periods of gloom and doom where life becomes a real burden and where the tunnel remains exceedingly dark. Either way, your perceptions of the real world may be clouded to the extent that you act and react extremely to people, situations and events around you.
If your answers were mainly (b)’s your happiness thermostat appears to be set quite high and it also seems to be quite stable. You’re probably one of those people who are optimistic, upbeat, steady and nice and easy to be around.
If you got mainly (c)’s then you’re a bit too much of a realist for your own good. Quite sensible and efficient, you tend to reap what you sew - which generally speaking is just not quite enough to make you really happy.
Wherever you fit in there’s always the chance to move towards greater happiness, a dynamic that plays such an important role in the prediction of personal and sporting success.
It is said that you can't buy happiness. You only need to know the right places .... one of which is not your laurels, nor somewhere or something that’s ready-made. It comes from your own actions, choices that require efforts that lead to the afterglow of having worked hard and demanding only the best of yourself.
So there you are. The higher your level of happiness the more successful you are likely to be. And if you’re happy and you know it ... clap your hands!