CHASING HAPPINESS

Actor Will Smith’s character in the popular American film The Pursuit of Happyness, which was recently released in the U.S., remarks that Thomas Jefferson was wise to commit only to the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. Constitution, realizing how elusive it can truly be. Yet happiness remains a key focus of our everyday concerns.
Nonetheless, psychology has had little to say on the subject. The vast majority of academic research has concerned itself with studying human weaknesses and misery.
While there are many theories on why we get sad, mad or dysfunctional, positive experiences – such as joy, kindness, altruism and heroism – have been ignored. That trend is changing, however, and recent studies have found some interesting results: You likely won’t be any happier in the long run if you win a million dollars today – or less happy in the long run if you lose your job or marriage. If good fortune visits you, that gain soon becomes your new “normal” and you’re now off seeking the next material attainment.
As an example, within a year of winning the lottery, those envied folks reported returning to the level of happiness they experienced before winning. Research published in the journal Science found, surprisingly, that monetary income did not correlate with feelings of life satisfaction. In fact, after basic subsistence was assured, higher income
was associated with slightly higher levels of tension and anger. It's becoming clearer that it is not external attainment that brings happiness; it is the internal ability to appreciate that which life has put in front of you. Using a method that
could be viewed as “just too simple,” one study’s participants were asked to think of three good things that happened each day and to analyze why they occurred.
At the study’s conclusion, the participants self-reported increases in overall happiness, not just for a day or two, but long-term. After the study formally ended, many participants continued the practice on their own, saying it helped them focus more on the good things that happen, which might otherwise be forgotten because of daily
disappointments. Another technique involved writing long letters to people you’re grateful to but never properly thanked, and then reading the letters to them in person.
There are challenges to adopting this orientation. We have mentally trained ourselves to look for the problems, the deficiencies, the things lacking in our lives. It would take practice to let go of that well-ingrained pattern. Yet, perhaps it really is that simple. The secret of happiness lies in our ability to appreciate that which is around us: our families,
our friends, a sunset – and simply the fact that we’re alive