On the Subject of Health and Happiness: The Gray Area and Not-so-Traditional Way of Being Happy.

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Has anyone suddenly asked you the definition of happiness? A state of just being? Being content? Having a feeling of joy? Feeling satisfied? Being at peace? Avoiding stress? Is happiness in women different than happiness in men? 

What I do know is this:

• If you are unhappy, the people around you will be unhappy. 
• If you are unhappy, you won’t be aware of your surrounding and your own present moment, acknowledging and accepting your own feelings and thoughts, which in turn leads to a non-ending, thought-driven train of negativity 
• If you are unhappy, the “Just do it” just “doesn’t make sense” 
• And probably the most obvious. If you are stressed, you will most certainly be unhappy. 

In other words, and perhaps in a western-eastern, ying -yang context Happiness IS the new Healthy. Even though the being-happy-to-be-healthy approach might sound a bit cliché, diagnosing and treating illness is just not black and white anymore. The connection between mechanistic (mechanical function of the body) and relational (interrelated external factors) wellness is creating an impact on the traditional ways of medicine. Furthermore gender differences play a crucial role in effective diagnosis and treatment and the practice of wellness techniques.

The Health and Happiness Series from the Doris A. Howell Foundation was created to inform women and men in our community about the latest research on happiness and health. Looking at health and happiness from a different perspective: the combination of a research-based ‘holistic’ approach to diagnosis and treatment with an awareness of the ‘mind-body-environment’ connection may be the future.

What we might have once defined as common sense - as in ‘chicken soup for a cold’ common sense - actually has a clinical and psychological rationale. Promoting health through the Health and Happiness Evening series is our ‘common sense’ approach to encouraging education in current and relevant research that might affect us all in a positive way.

An Integrative Approach to Stress Management: Reducing Stress and Increasing Happiness is the fourth in a series of presentations organized by the Foundation. It will offer unique, interactive, thought-provoking insight into the effects of stress on our health, how stress differs in men and women, and how simple techniques can lead to stress management in our daily life.

Carole Banka, Ph.D., Associate Project Scientist from the UCSD School of Medicine will be presenting gender differences in stress, while Dr. Tahir Bhatti, Integrative Psychiatrist and Wellness Physician from the UCSD Executive Health and Wellness Program, will be teaching simple but effective ways to alleviate stress.

For more information, visit www.howellfoundation.org.