Often we think Happiness and Enjoyment are having the same meaning. We also think having Enjoyment means happiness and vice versa. Happiness and Enjoyment look similar but there is a difference between them.
Happiness is a state of mind that gives you inner peace of mind and energy for living a happy and contented life. It varies from person to person. Different people experience it differently. But one thing is common they all have peace of mind and energy for a good life.
Whereas,
Enjoyment is a kind of experience that you acquire out of some basic needs, esteem needs and higher-order needs(Maslow Theory). The primary outcome of enjoyment has some positive effects on us like pleasure, satisfaction, gratification, fulfilment, pride and gratitude. Also, it varies from time to time. An infant enjoys physical needs like milk and caring while an adult may like travelling or other activities.
| S.N. | Happiness | Enjoyment |
| 1 | State of mind that gives you inner peace of mind. | Experiences that you acquire out of some needs. |
| 2 | It varies from person to person. | It varies from time to time. |
| 3 | It is a deeper attribute of human life | It is a shallow concept. |
| 4 | You can achieve this with some tested steps. (Read: Real Happiness) | You can get it from various needs like physical, esteem, gratification etc. |
| 5 | Happiness is fully satisfying. You can never feel dissatisfaction from it. | Enjoyment at a certain point looks boring and dissatisfied. |
| 6 | Happiness gives you a long and healthy life. | Enjoyment may degrade your quality of life and health. |
| 7 | All of us look for happiness in life. | While searching for happiness in life, most of us are trapped in enjoyment. |
| 8 | Happiness lasts a longer period of time and it may be permanent also by certain techniques. | Enjoyment lasts for a shorter period of time. It may end up feeling guilt and grief. |
| 9 | Happiness makes your life balanced and stable. | Enjoyments often derail your balanced and stable life. |
| 10 | With happiness, you can achieve anything in life as it enhances your capacity and efficiency. | Enjoyments are often for your amusements, so it doesn’t add any value to your efficiency and capability. |
Happiness
Happiness is the ultimate goal of human life. We all want happiness in our life. For this, we always search various techniques for achieving happiness in life. A happy mind can do anything in life. Happiness includes various aspects of life like a peace of mind, satisfaction, kindness etc.
Imagine a person who has all resources of the world. He can do anything he likes but still, he may not have happiness. So happiness doesn’t depend on how much you have but how peaceful your mind is. Therefore to achieve peace of mind and real happiness you don’t require any specific article but to manage your mental status.
How to achieve happiness
Happiness is a mental status that provides you with real happiness and peace of mind. For achieving real happiness, you need to take several steps like forgiveness, living in the present, kindness etc.
You can achieve happiness with meditation also as it awakens your inner self and makes you good from the inside. It is necessary as happiness is the inner concept where you feel all your blessings and belongings.
The ultimate aim of happiness is to achieve enlightenment or nirvana. In fact, happiness is the first step towards nirvana where you will be from all the sorrow and bondage of the world. You will feel like a free soul.
How do you feel if you are happy?
Sometimes you must have felt happiness in your life. It is the moment when you would have felt the peace of mind and complete satisfaction from life. And you had a lot of positive thoughts in your mind. You felt that you can do anything in life. That’s the strength of happiness, it makes you extremely useful for yourself and the world.
Enjoyment
It is on the other hand temporary in nature and spends largely on some conditions and things. Sometimes it makes you feel bad after enjoying something. Imagine you attended a house party of a friend and drank a lot. You felt this enjoyment to its fullest but the next morning after the hangover you start regretting having a lot of drinks.
So enjoyment may not end up always on a good feeling. Therefore you should do it in a controlled manner to avoid regretting later. And you can use it with a conscious mind. As we have discussed earlier that enjoyment varies from time to time(Mashlow’s Theory).
Just like happiness, enjoyment is also necessary for life. But overconsumption of enjoyment may lead to bad feelings and sadness. Enjoyment is not always bad but plays an important role in your happy and satisfied life.
How you can enjoy your life
A great philosopher has said, ” Enjoy each and every moment of your life but avoid an overdose of it”. It is necessary to enjoy your life. You have a lot of reasons and resources for enjoyment. But in the race of enjoying everything, we must not overuse it.
We must enjoy any natural resources in a sustainable manner so that future generations can also enjoy them. If we use it in an uncontrolled manner, it will degenerate the natural adjustments and can create havoc. So we must do it with a radical mind.
Although we enjoy ourselves a lot in our life but in order to get happiness and peace of mind, we must use it wisely. As you know happiness is the ultimate goal of life.
