You bastardize the meaning of words and rationalize that by falsely claiming that we’re now in a world of excess, where as the reality is the world of excess is fastly coming to an end… your train of thought is off by a couple of generations or so.

It’s pretty bizarre, but that doesn’t much matter, anymore. Bizarre thoughts sell. Meh.

I’m glad you find them informative and thought-provoking 🙂

Good for you. I haven’t been as protective, although I certainly should have been.

I’m curious though, why do you say artists, specifically musicians, would benefit from knowing and embracing that message? Are musicians particularly mean people? Do they think that helps with their creativity or image?

It’s strange, isn’t it? I’ve seen the same shift happen in lots of other people – if happiness is the be all, end all, it shouldn’t matter where it comes from – organic or not. So the question is, are we just being antsy pantsy when we say no to the Happiness Machine, or is there actually more to life than happiness?

I’ve never taken any philosophy classes, but I’ve always seen it as an important question. The past year of my studying positive psychology has made it clear – the happiest folks on earth are master meditators, so if my one and only goal is happiness, that’s the path I should pursue. But I do want more – I want to make the world a better place, and I don’t think I can do that as a meditator. What about you? Do you know why you would prefer happiness to happen organically?

I like the scenario of the happiness machine you put at the beginning of the post. I read about it in one of my philosophy classes in college. Back then I was on the fence. I could go either way in getting into the machine or not. Now, I wouldn’t do it. I think I just prefer happiness to happen organically.

Thanks Gary!

It’s not just you – I’ve found that in my own life as well. Giving to others lets me also receive more, but just as important, it feels good.

I totally forget about that dimension, and you’re absolutely right – the better you treat yourself, the greater your capacity to give back to others. You’ve probably heard about the fact that happier people make more money. An interesting and often unnoted caveat is that after a certain level of happiness, income starts to decline. That’s because those are the folks who spend the most time giving back to their community. And why not? They’ve got the emotional strength for it.

I’m glad you liked the rant! Thanks!

Hi Priska,

That’s a great point. Having looked at the actual studies behind those articles, I’ll say they’re definitely editorializing, but you still bring up a few massive problems. One is that most people who read a happiness book don’t actually make any changes to their life. That should result in a zero change to their life, but because they now have higher expectations for what their life should be, it actually makes them less happy.

Another is that people get too focused, getting caught up as you describe. Yet another is that that focus can backfire – spend too much energy trying to improve x, y, and z and you stop focusing on other important parts of your life.

Yet another is that happiness advice in general is too vague – based off of averages rather than specifics. As you’ve said, what made you happy at one point may not make you happy at another. Happiness science isn’t yet mature enough to discriminate between the nuances of a person’s life. I certainly owe it to my readers to point out all of these problems, and I will. It’s hard to find a balance between rushing forward with what is already known and pulling back in precaution.

Thanks Bobbi! I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking I’m slowly getting better at this whole blogging thing.

One reason positive psychology excited me in the beginning was because of its claim that investing in others is as much an investment in oneself. My natural personality (and that of most others) inclines me to be generous and compassionate, but for years I was told I needed to be more ‘selfish’. That didn’t work out so well, so I was already starting to get skeptical. It was great when science backed up my intuition – it’s okay to be nice (actually, more than okay, as you’ve pointed out).

To be honest, I’m still oblivious in a million and a half ways. Some days I’m happier than others, and sometimes I know why, but other times I’m as lost as anyone else. Sometimes I can count of science to help me out, but as often I’ve got to rely on self-experimentation.