'Tis Nothing Good or Bad....

One nice thing about life is that the stuff that gives us joy and happiness is often found for free. The website ted.org is one such example. In here, many eminent scholars and scientists talk to us about their research and simply give away all their important findings for no cost at all. Dan Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist, is an expert on happiness and also a great presenter of new ideas. His book Stumbling on Happiness is a bestseller that deserves a space in every bookshelf. This talk (click on the image to see the entire talk) is really good and his findings are both simple and profound:

• Happiness can be synthesized.
• Synthesized happiness is as good as natural happiness.
• We all suffer from Impact Bias, where we incorrectly ascribe exaggerated amounts of happiness to an imagined future state.
• Accept the things that you cannot change (freedom to choose is the enemy of happiness).
• Having a lot of choices is not conducive to finding happiness.

Enjoy this talk. I am sure you will have a new perspective on happiness after listening to this one.