As a psychiatrist, I’ve seen how chasing happiness leads to misery | Psyche Ideas

Man chases “happiness.” But in actuality, he doesn’t chase happiness at all. He chases freedom from pain. And he believes that happiness is the opposite of pain. And it is this that sinks him. He chases and hopes for “positive events,” something to go his way, so that he can gain a moment of happiness. But he does not understand that no matter how

The great irony is that those who dedicate their lives to hunting the chimera are the least likely to find it. As the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl warned, you can’t pursue happiness head-on. It will find you, but only as an unintentional byproduct of some worthier goal. Instead of chasing a mirage, eyes forever fixed on the destination, all we can do

In fact, oftentimes it’s the striving and pursuit of happiness that blocks us from having the experiences we most want. Why? When we fixate on what’s missing — like six pack abs or hot sex with a co-worker or everlasting happiness — we can enter a dynamic that has us dismiss what we’ve already got.