DBT Describing Emotions - HAPPINESS

“People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” ― Abraham Lincoln

Happiness Words

Happiness     Joy     Enjoyment     Relief     Amusement     Enthrallment     Hope     Satisfaction     Bliss     Cheerfulness     Euphoria     Joviality     Triumph     Contentment     Excitement     Jubilation     Zaniness     Delight     Eagerness     Gaiety     Pleasure     Zeal     Ecstasy     Gladness     Pride     Elation     Optimism     Jolliness     Thrill     Zest     Rapture     Exhilaration     Enthusiasm     Glee

Prompting Events for Feeling Happiness

• Receiving a wonderful surprise
• Reality exceeding your expectations
• Getting what you want
• Getting something you have worked hard for or worried about
• Things turning out better than you thought they would
• Being successful at a task
• Achieving a desirable outcome
• Receiving esteem, respect or praise
• Receiving love, liking or affection
• Being accepted by others
• Belonging somewhere or with someone or a group
• Being with or in contact with people who love or like you
• Having very pleasurable sensations
• Doing things that create or bring to mind pleasurable sensations

Interpretations of Events That Prompt Feelings of Happiness

• Interpreting joyful events just as they are, without adding or subtracting

Biological Changes and Experiences of Happiness

• Feeling excited
• Feeling physically energetic, active
• Feeling like giggling or laughing
• Feeling your face flush
• Feeling at peace
• Feeling open or expansive
• Feeling calm all the way through

Expressions and Actions of Happiness

• Smiling
• Having a bright, glowing face
• Being bouncy or bubbly
• Communicating your good feelings
• Sharing the feeling
• Silliness
• Hugging people
• Jumping up and down
• saying positive things
• Using an enthusiastic or excited voice
• Being talkative or talking a lot

Aftereffects of Happiness

• Being Courteous or friendly to others
• Doing nice things for other people
• Having a positive outlook; seeing the bright side
• Having a high threshold for worry or annoyance
• Remembering and imagining other times you have felt joy
• Expecting to feel joyful in the future

Typical Secondary Emotions of Happiness

• Feelings of love, passion
• When the joy is not shared, feelings of melancholy, loneliness, shame or guilt; feeling embarrassed or silly