The pursuit of happiness

When I get e-mails in the middle of a hectic workday with interesting articles that I know I'd like to do more than scan, I print them out and take them home. (In my environmental defense, I usually toss them into the blue office recycle bin the next day unless they're so good they have to be filed.)

One of today's articles (Edit: Sent from miko), strangely appropriate as of late, was Carlin Flora's The Pursuit of Happiness in Psychology Today, in which Flora outlines our evolving understanding of how to achieve happiness. And she does it without sounding like a cheesy self-help guru.

Fair warning: If you read the article in its entirety, it sounds much less general than what I've outlined below, but here are The Parts That Really Struck Me anyway:

"What is happiness? The most useful definition—and it's one agreed upon by neuroscientists, psychiatrists, behavioral economists, positive psychologists, and Buddhist monks—is more like satisfied or content than "happy" in its strict bursting-with-glee sense. It has depth and deliberation to it. It encompasses living a meaningful life, utilizing your gifts and your time, living with thought and purpose. (My emphasis.)

Pain is a Part of Happiness
Happiness is not your reward for escaping pain. It demands that you confront negative feelings head-on, without letting them overwhelm you... Happiness would be meaningless if not for sadness: Without the contrast of darkness, there is no light.

Mindfulness Brings Happiness
Don't banish your negative feelings, but don't let them get in the way of your taking productive actions, either.

Happiness Lies in the Chase
It's not crossing the finish line that is most rewarding; it's anticipating achieving your goal.

Happiness is Other People
Good relationships are buffers against the damaging effects of all of life's inevitable letdowns and setbacks.

Options Make Us Miserable
We base many of our decisions on whether we think a particular preference will increase our well-being. Intuitively, we seem convinced that the more choices we have, the better off we'll ultimately be. But our world of unlimited opportunity imprisons us more than it makes us happy.

Happiness Hinges on Your Time Frame
Evaluate your well-being at the macro as well as the micro level to get the most accurate picture of your own happiness.

You're Wrong About What Will Make You Happy and You're Wrong About What Made You Happy
We are terrible at predicting our future feelings accurately, especially if our predictions are based on our past experiences. The past exists in our memory, after all, and memory is not a reliable recording device: We recall beginnings and endings far more intensely than those long "middles," whether they're eventful or not.

Happiness Is Embracing Your Natural Coping Style
Barbara Held, a professor of psychology at Bowdoin College, for one, rails against "the tyranny of the positive attitude." "Looking on the bright side isn't possible for some people and is even counterproductive," she insists. "When you put pressure on people to cope in a way that doesn't fit them, it not only doesn't work, it makes them feel like a failure on top of already feeling bad."

Happiness Is Living Your Values
If you aren't living according to your values, you won't be happy, no matter how much you are achieving... The state of happiness is not really a state at all. It's an ongoing personal experiment."


This has been your Friday public service announcement. Drink and be merry. But not too much, I hear alcohol's a depressant and such.


Photo of children in Goa, India, by Bruno Ehrs is from Corbis