What is joy, satisfaction and contentment? And are they enough?

If you are not feeling happy, are you ‘actually’ unhappy? Sadly, research shows many Canadians say they feel less happy. In the Canadian Happiness Report it details how in 2010 Canada ranked 6th, in 2021 we’ve fallen to 14th. What a gloomy outcome.

Our society has generated a conversation that claims we all have the ‘right’ to happiness. It’s everywhere. Magazines, TV and self-help books. Wherever we look we see it’s expected that we will be happy. And when we’re not sure, what does that mean about us?

We spoke with Lindsay Reimer, an experienced psychiatric nurse and asked her to help us understand emotions that contribute to happiness. In this blog we look at satisfaction, contentment and joy and their impact on our lives. You’ll be pleased to read that she talks about some practical skills we can learn to improve our moods.  

Q: Lindsay, thanks for speaking with us today. First, what’s happiness? 

A: Happiness is often described as an emotional state where people feel positive emotions and satisfaction with their lives. Happiness may be in the present moment, or how someone feels overall. And it is subjective because it’s about personal feelings. People may describe their feelings of joy, contentment, and satisfaction.

Q: Please could you explain satisfaction?

A: Technically speaking satisfaction is described as a person having what they need or want. Needs are things people can’t live without, such as a warm place to live and food. Wants are nice, but people can live without them, for example, an extra coat. 

It’s easy to confuse the importance of needs and wants. When people feel their wants aren’t met, they can become very focused on those negative aspects of their lives. They lose focus on the positive aspects of what they do have. 

Learning to be satisfied with what one has in life, is a skill. To build this skill people must recognize that perceptions about their lives may need to shift.  People can do this if they find balance in their life perspective. 

Asking these questions may help: 

• Are our needs met? If so, can we appreciate the positive things in our lives?

• We might want to ask what is enough? How can we decide when we have enough?

• Are their negative aspects? Can we accept or otherwise work to change them? 

Practical Tip: Using mindfulness techniques can increase our awareness. It can help us to highlight different areas in which we want to focus. Once we’ve decided on this focus, we can create goals for our lives. This helps increase feelings of satisfaction.

Q: What is contentment?

A: Contentment is a state of feeling satisfied or happy. It does not mean people don’t have anything negative in their lives.  Achieving contentment needs people to learn to recognize what can and cannot be changed.

Practical Tip: for those things that people:

• CAN change, practice skills such as problem solving and goal setting. Break down the task into manageable chunks. This helps to create a pathway forward to achieve the desired goals.

• CANNOT change or problem solve, then there’s a learning journey to accept those things. But if its not possible to accept, then a decision about what needs to change is the next step. 

We have found that when people use the techniques of problem solving, acceptance and changing perceptions, they can avoid living in misery and improve their ability to feel content.

Q: What is joy? 

A: Joy generally goes beyond just satisfaction and feeling content. It is a significant feeling of happiness. When people are struggling with their mental health, they often feel less joy in their life. 

It can feel hard to find joy or even prioritize it in our lives. When people don’t prioritize joy, it can make them feel worse. It is possible to find joy in a moment and to actively seek those moments. 

Practical Tip: 

• Practice mindfulness. This skill helps one to recognize the joyful moments that occur in day-to-day life. 

• Set goals. It’s important to take time to set a goal of making time for pleasant events in the future. This should be for both short term (now today this week) and longer term. 

As we experience more joy, we are more likely to feel positive about our lives and feel that it is worth living. 

Q: Why are satisfaction, contentment, and joy important?

A: When satisfaction, contentment and joy are missing from our lives it can be difficult to feel that our life is worth living.

We can learn skills that help us to make meaningful change. Then we are more likely to feel in control, and able to increase our positive experiences. 

As we increase our positive experiences, it helps us feel happier and we feel that our lives are worthwhile. 

Thank you for the time you spent with us today, Lindsay.