Happiness fueled by relationships, work and something 'larger than self,' filmmaker finds

What does it take to be happy — to escape life's ennui, low-level sorrow or what Freud called the "worried well?"
Can you consciously make yourself happy?
Probably not, experts say. But understanding your biological makeup, how you perceive the world and your relationships with others can help to boost happiness.
Stefan Sagmeister, a New York City-based graphic artist who created album covers for the Rolling Stones, Jay-Z and the Talking Heads, set out to see if he could orchestrate his own happiness.
His quest, which was in many ways a failure, is the subject of his first documentary with Ben Nabors, "The Happy Film," which premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend and goes on to international festivals.

Courtesy of Ben Wolf

During a cognitive behavioral therapy experiment, Stefan Sagmeister follows his doctor's advice to "seek discomfort" by attempting to pick up a woman on the street.

"Ultimately, we have a conscious and unconscious mind," Sagmeister, 52, told TODAY. "The unconscious mind is a big elephant and the conscious mind is a tiny rider who thinks he can tell the elephant what to do. But in real life, the sub-conscious mind has its own ideas and direction."
Watch the trailer for "The Happy Film"
"Only through training can we make the two work together," he said. "And it doesn't happen overnight."
Sagmeister is highly successful and had every reason to be happy, but he became easily bored with creative projects when they were not new, and with women after passion waned.


So what was missing in his life?
Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist from New York University and author of "The Happiness Hypothesis," says humans are complex creatures who "survive and thrive" in an intensely social world.
"True happiness comes when you get three kinds of relationships right," he told TODAY. "The one between yourself and others, between yourself and work or something productive and between yourself and something larger than yourself."

The Happy Film

Happiness depends on many factors, but you can't just think happy to make it happen.

As for love, passion usually ends in about six months, but the joys of companionship rise. He also advises finding a sense of fun and playfulness in life.
Before embarking on his experiment, Sagmeister consulted Haidt, who recommended three scientifically valid approaches to curbing his relationship anxiety — meditation, cognitive therapy and SSRI antidepressants. He also graded his happiness level.
source--healthnews