29 Dec To solve the puzzle of what makes us happy, forget the big picture
Too often too many of us think happiness will come from the big things; those big wins and those big successes, the major, life changing events that set us up for glory and success.
And sometimes they might.
But that’s the problem, they only happen sometimes.
What happens far more often are the little things; those small wins and small steps and minor victories which when added up … make a massive difference.
Check out this SMH article by Luke Mintz for more …
In his final novel, Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald describes one summer’s afternoon in 1925, when his protagonist Rosie, an American actress, is pottering around Amiens in northern France with her future boyfriend, whiling away the hours until dinner. “It was one of those uneventful times that seem at the moment only a link between past and future pleasure,” he writes, “but turn out to have been the pleasure itself.”
It was an appreciation of those small, fleeting moments of fulfilment. We can all recall our own: a hand held by a loved one; the sound of rain on the roof as you drift off to sleep. Artists and musicians have long considered these joyful vignettes to be the bedrock of human happiness. Think of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, consisting of nothing more than “sangria in the park” and “feed[ing] animals in the zoo.”
And now neuroscientists are starting to agree.
The past few decades have seen an explosion of research into the so-called “science of happiness”, fuelled by advances in brain-scanning technology, plus a broader cultural shift towards seeing happiness as a key index of human development. New Zealand now claims to focus on “gross domestic happiness” rather than gross domestic product. In the UK, it’s been a decade since David Cameron asked the Office for National Statistics to launch a “happiness index”.
Traditionally, happiness scientists have examined big-picture questions. Looking at your life in its totality, they might ask, are you broadly content? Do you find meaning in your job? Do you feel liked by your friends, and valued by your family? Debates can be controversial, none more so than the question of money. In 1974, economist Richard Easterlin famously found that money does indeed buy happiness – but only up to a point, after which extra cash makes little difference. It became known as the “Easterlin paradox”.
… keep reading the full & original article HERE