Stumbling on Happiness
Happiness is a goal shared by all. Its quest is the motive behind much of our behavior -- from whom we choose to spend our lives with to what we choose to park in our garage. And yet happiness remains surprisingly elusive. Why is that? Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert sheds helpful new light on the topic in his book, "Stumbling on Happiness." Although full of the rigorous research one would expect from a highly-credentialed professor, this book is written with clarity and wit, making it as enjoyable as it is enlightening.
With a rare ability to simplify complex ideas, Gilbert's explanation of how the brain works reveals why we are so bad at predicting what will make us happy. Our failure to find happiness, Gilbert argues, is due to a failure of imagination; we tend to overestimate the joy we will experience from that red convertible we dream of. And we tend to turn a blind eye toward the reality that our last two convertibles didn't provide the happiness we expected either.
"Steering a boat is a joy by itself," he writes. "But steering it to a great destination would seem to be an even bigger joy. The problem is that we're really bad about envisioning the future. We spend much of our lives turning rudders and hoisting sails, only to find that Shangri-la isn't what and where we thought it would be."
"Stumbling on Happiness" is not a self-help book, with five-step lists and easy answers. However, anyone looking to improve their odds of making decisions -- financial and otherwise -- that improve their happiness, will be glad they read this book.
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