Want to feel fulfilled while trick-or-treating this Halloween? Try this.

Last updated on: November 11, 2023 at 9:58 pm by Samantha Mattheiss

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Want to feel fulfilled while trick-or-treating this Halloween? Try this. 2023-11-11T21:58:50-05:00 Samantha Mattheiss

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For many of us, Halloween means a night out, dressed up in costumes, going door to door requesting a piece or two of candy with the words, “trick-or-treat.” Although candy surely tastes good and activates many brain regions involved in reward, such as the ventral striatum, we might find that it doesn’t fulfill us deep within.

brain

Rewards, such as candy and even social connections, activate a brain region called the ventral striatum. The brain as an organ of mind (1896). Bastian, H. Charlton. 1896. University of Connecticut Libraries. Image courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/

Why not? Well, researchers have identified two types of happiness—hedonic happiness, which involves the experience of pleasure, reward, and comfort—and eudaimonic happiness, which involves meaning, purpose, values, and growth. Hedonic happiness sure feels good, but it can be fleeting; on the other hand, eudaimonic happiness fills us on a deeper level and is more long-lasting.

Candy sure has the potential to improve hedonic happiness, but what can foster eudaimonic happiness this Halloween?

The Bread of Life fulfills

First, let’s consider the Catholic perspective on what might fulfill deep within. Jesus tells us, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35). Lack of hunger and thirst sounds like fulfillment, which seems to correspond to eudaimonic happiness.

How and why does the Bread of Life satiate? Well, the Bread of Life is true self-gift—perfect Love. Receiving love and loving others surely fills us deep within. It connects us to others in a way that strengthens us and, in the perspective of a psychologist, increases eudaimonic happiness. Either way, the Bread of Life fills us up not just for a moment, but in a deep and lasting way.

It’s worth mentioning that bread also fulfills the body, so maybe hedonic happiness is included in that, too. Also important to note is that in the Catholic perspective, that fulfillment extends into everlasting life. Check out John Michael Talbot’s Bread of Life for a beautiful proclamation of these transcendental truths.

Anyway, back to trick-or-treating. Eating Halloween candy might increase hedonic happiness, but what can we do to increase eudaimonic happiness this Halloween? In consideration of the Bread of Life which satiates all hunger and thirst, is there a way that we can enter into true communion with others and thus, be fulfilled by the Bread of Life?

The Bread of Life fulfills deep within.

Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash

Epidemic of isolation

With ever-increasing access to technology, it’s easier than ever to browse social media while standing next to someone in the elevator; yet it’s harder than ever to start talking to a stranger or connect with a peer on the way to class.

As such, even the U.S. Surgeon General recently shared an Advisory on our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, calling for national action to address the dearth of authentic social connection amongst youth.

Social connection

In the midst of a public longing for social connection, we find evermore research demonstrating the benefits of friendship, social support, and social connection. Social connection involves sensing some overlap between oneself and the other (that similarity might be as simple as both living in the same neighborhood), emotional connection, and a sense of belonging (see Sepalla et al., 2013 for a review).

Benefits of social connection are countless, and include longevity, improved cognition and memory, better physical health, reduced stress, and improved wellness (Sepalla et al., 2013).

With an outcry for social connection amongst a 21st century technology-laden society, Halloween may offer a unique opportunity to put down our phones while we engage in-person with our neighbors.

Trick or Treating fulfills

Trick-or-treating, in addition to the onslaught of treats, provides a unique, seemingly once-a-year opportunity, for authentic social connection. It’s an opportunity to bond with those who live closest to us—to become self-gift, the Bread of Life, to others as we offer them candy or receive some from them. It offers an opportunity to look one another in the eye, recognize our common humanity and our common existence. It becomes an opportunity to directly interact with others, without the means of phones, social media, or iPads; to consider another’s feelings, experiences, needs, joys, gifts, and sufferings.

This Halloween

Whether or not you actually go trick-or-treating, you might find ways to increase social connection this Halloween. The connection might be with family, friends, neighbors, or even strangers.

Whomever we meet, we are surely invited to embrace them. We can become the Bread of Life (John 6:35), total self-gift, while we remain present to others, simply making eye contact and meeting them face to face—mask or no mask. We can consider similarities between us and them: How are we the same? And consider their perspective and emotional state. In doing so, we increase the experience of social connection, likely leading to more well-being for all of us.

There’s no need to avoid candy this Halloween, but in addition to enjoying some treats, let’s take this opportunity to receive the Bread of Life—love. Let’s participate in an exchange of love with each person we encounter, and in doing so, we just may find that we experience deep, true fulfillment—something that feels a bit—everlasting.

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