What Is Eudaimonia?
Although I enjoy it, I find it very difficult to watch TV for very long. But I can read a book for hours, especially if it is nonfiction work and I am learning and enjoy it much more than TV. Likewise, I can't sit on the internet and look at memes for very long, even though it's fun, but I can read online scientific papers for hours and feel perfectly satisfied. I had never thought about why this would be the case until I recently took a vacation and spent it with old friends having fun in the sun. We took bike rides, went to the beach, had great meals together, and even stayed up late. I don't think I could have had a better time. This kind of fun is called hedonism: fun for the sake of feeling good, with no higher aim. And it is awesome.
However, when I returned to work in the cold northeast, I realized that I feel similar to how I feel on vacation, but with the bonus that I have a purpose for just about everything I do. Perhaps I feel a higher degree of "preparedness," but it is different from the hedonism of vacation. The name for this kind of well-being is called eudaimonia.
Aristotle first described a life of eudaimonia as "A life of striving. It's a life of pushing yourself to your limits and finding success. A eudaimonistic life will be full of the happiness that comes from achieving something really difficult, rather than just having it handed to you." 1
So philosophers have long distinguished two basic forms of well-being: a hedonic form representing the sum of an individual's positive affective experiences and a deeper eudaimonic form that results from striving toward meaning and a noble purpose beyond simple self-gratification. It turns out, so do scientific researchers.
A 2019 study involving almost 4000 subjects indicated that a stronger purpose in life was associated with decreased mortality. Specifically, those with more purpose in life had fewer heart, circulatory, blood, and digestive conditions than those with less purpose. In addition, some studies report that those with a strong purpose in life engage in healthy behaviors and have better health outcomes for sleep disturbances, stroke incidence, poststroke quality of life, depression, and diabetes. 2
There are several possible mechanisms through which life purpose might be associated with mortality. In 2013, Fredrickson and colleagues showed that purposeful living was associated with decreased expression of pro-inflammatory genes called CTRA. Hedonic and eudaimonic well-being are associated with strong positive relationships to total well-being and comparably strong. Conversely, they are inversely correlated with depressive symptoms. But surprisingly, hedonic feelings result in an increased expression of the same pro-inflammatory genes. From their findings, the researchers concluded that striving for meaning makes a difference. 3 In other words, adding meaning to our quest for fun can extend our lives.
Inflammation is associated with many modern diseases and shortens lives. So judging from the study I just cited, it stands to reason that losing one's purpose in life could increase mortality. For example, a 1998 study by Yasuda found that men who did not work immediately after retirement had increased mortality within the first two years of retirement compared with those who worked immediately after retirement. 4 Most of us have heard stories of people who retire, only to pass away soon after that. Again, it may be because of loss of purpose.
Five Tips On How to Achieve Eudaimonia From positivepsychology.com
Set goals for yourself. They don't have to be grandiose, and you don't have to achieve them to be happy because a eudaimonic life is defined as pursuing your purpose. It's about the journey, not the destination. For example, you can set a goal of being virtuous.
Use your capabilities on your way to your goal. For example, use your honesty as an aid to being virtuous.
Strive for continuous development on your journey. For instance, you can read Aristotle's works on eudaimonia, study virtuous people from history, or find a mentor.
Engage in activities that help your development, like volunteering your time as an act of virtue.
Engage in behaviors that express who you are. In other words, please don't do something to seem virtuous and not enjoy it. Remember, eudaimonia is all about you.