Saturday, August 19, 2006

Happiness quote


The Myth: We think the finer things in life will make us happy.

The Reality: Most of what makes us happy is pretty prosaic.

From a short, snappy survey on what makes us happy in Psychology Today. Here's a quick quote from the opening paragraph:

... Circumstances under our control (employment, education, money) account for only about 10 to 15 percent of our "subjective well-being," the technical term for how good we judge life to be. Happiness is largely due to personality traits and temperament; the torments or glories of fate don't make a huge difference in how we feel. When it comes to subjective well-being, "you don't get a big bang out of the real world," says Alex Michalos of the University of Northern British Columbia.

1 Comments:

  1. Anonymous said...

    When we say " finer things". It is but a subjective thought. Finer things can be interpreted in several ways. Abundance in real estate and money could be finer things to me. Having little and being contented with it could mean finer things to me too. Neither way its complex!