What's your favorite kind of pie?

When it comes to pies, everyone has their favorite. For some it’s cherry, some love key lime and others prefer a slice of warm apple pie. With so many pie options out there, it can be hard to decide which is best, but there is another kind of pie that you may have not heard of. It’s called the

Happiness Pie and this is one that we should all be sinking our teeth into.

Rethinking Happiness

For much of history, it was believed that genetics played an overwhelming role in happiness which meant that your happiness set point was predetermined and there wasn’t much you could do to impact it. But in 2005, a group of researchers decided to pressure test this theory. They studied a group of over 2000 twins that were separated at birth and their results showed that genetics weren’t the only determining factor in our happiness.

Introducing the Happiness Pie Model

The results from the study, which became known as the Happiness Pie model, showed that while genetics did determine approximately 50% of our happiness set point, it is wasn’t the only thing that played a role in our level of happiness. The other 50% was comprised of life circumstances (~10%) and intentional activities (~40%). When it came to 10% surrounding life circumstances like social and economic status, they found that only a fraction of a person’s happiness could be linked to the success they had achieved in those areas. In fact, financial success only played a small role in how happy the person felt. (Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111)

Increase your Happiness Set Point

While we can’t change our genetics and we may not have as much control over life circumstances as we prefer, the good news is that we do have control over the ~40% of the pie that is focused on intentional activities. By intentionally participating in activities meant to increase well-being, you are in control of that slice of the pie and can create lasting positive changes in your levels of happiness.

Below you will see the graphic representation of the Happiness Pie Model and a list of the types of intentional activities that sit within your control. You can pick from any of these to begin to create more positivity and happiness in your life.

When getting started, choose one activity that you value and that comes naturally to you, then make a commitment to intentionally do it for two weeks. After two weeks, check in and see how you are feeling. Remember, small actions and habit changes are what create lasting changes. If you are worried about not being able to stick with it, invite a friend or colleague to go on this journey with you and you can hold one another accountable and share your successes along the way.

Once you've have had a chance to play around with different ingredients and learn what works best for you to increase your happiness, we would love to hear your recipe!

Hopefully, next time we speak, you will tell me that your new favorite kind of pie is Happiness Pie!