AS the nation enters another lockdown, a psychology expert is reassuring people it is fine to feel far from happy.

Dr Helen Driscoll, principal lecturer and team leader for psychology at the University of Sunderland, said people should not beat themselves up over feeling gloomy.

She wants people to accept how they feel and consider the following reasons to question the happiness pursuit and instead be content with where we are:

lHappiness is sometimes seen as all that matters in tough times times get tough, and the only emotional state that has value. But, remember, this belief in itself may lead to unhappiness.

lDoes enjoying a sad film or book mean we are unhappy people? I don’t think so. Sadness and happiness are not always opposites. Sometimes I am happy feeling cheerful, but sometimes I am happy feeling sad.

lListening to sad music – as we often do when times get challenging or difficult – can provide a positive emotional experience and can be pleasurable.

lResearch suggests we have a genetically influenced happiness ‘set-point’ and our happiness varies only to a limited extent around this. So, regardless of what happens to us – a lottery win or pandemic lockdown– our happiness will at some point return close to this point.

lWhen people earn more money, their desired living standards rise, they desire ever more expensive things but in the long term may be no happier because they still want more than they can afford.

lImagine a world in which we were blissfully happy all the time. Would we be driven to develop, to achieve, to seek partners, have children? If we were completely happy, why would we do those things?

lWhile many changes in the world have led to increased happiness – like availability of food, medical care and shelter – we struggle with other changes like when something unprecedented occurs – like a pandemic – and cannot see clearly.

lDuring human evolutionary history, being happy signalled that we were behaving in adaptive ways – for example acquiring an attractive partner would likely make us happy and this had fitness benefits. But will this happiness last? Acquiring an attractive partner brings its own challenges – there is always the risk of losing them.

lIf something happens to us, like dealing with a dramatic change in our day-to-day lives, that results in sadness, the reflection that brings has some meaning – and can lead to a positive change in the long-run.

lLife is a rich and complex emotional quilt, full of different colours and textures of different depths. It is not supposed to be flat, uniform and joyous pink and yellow.

lWould we be happier if we concerned ourselves less with happiness – didn’t expect it but knew it was likely to return – and embraced the range of human emotions a bit more?