exploratisserie

Was going through NPR archives (because I am a complete NPR junkie) and came across this fascinating talk / study on happiness.

This idea of happiness. We glop onto this simple, wastebasket term as it’s equivalent to a fulfilling life. And what I think the lesson of Valiant’s research is that much of what leads to a fulfilling life has almost nothing to do with happiness. And so what you’re hearing in these stories over the course of 70 years, the idea of developing wisdom, finding meaning in life and finding a purpose in life and achieving things and developing a tolerance of pain and distress, what these things, these elements require is exposure to tension, to stress, to adversity and loss. And during those periods, if you were to study them at that time, their lives wouldn’t look happy in the slightest, but their lives might be quite fulfilling because of that righteous indignation and difficulties that they went through. -Todd Kashdan

So what’s more important to you - having a happy or fulfilling life? Are they mutually exclusive? Perhaps these periods of stress and adversity are simply steps that contribute to your overall happiness (which is linked to sense of fulfillment) at the end of your life. But what’s more important - being happy throughout your life or being happy at the end of your life?

I am a perpetual optimizer and the thing I fear most is complacency. But perhaps complacency is the key to a steady level of happiness. Oh well :) We’re horrible at predicting what will make us happy, anyway.

This idea of, again, happiness being the ultimate objective in life… We can’t always be joyous and playful, but we can almost always be profoundly aware and curious. And what you’re hearing about him talk about is the idea - when he talks about letting go, it’s the idea of accepting, I’m going to sort of explore sort of what moments have to offer. I’m going to extract more pleasure and meaning from things that are around me. And from that, those are the building blocks for creating a foundation, the architecture of a meaningful, sustainable, fulfilling life. - Todd Kashdan