happiness

if you can’t find joy in a cup of coffee, you won’t find it in a yacht. gratitude treats all things the same.

Contrary to what we might expect, the study found that the link between economic growth, as measured by GDP per capita, and life satisfaction weakened as countries became more affluent. In other words, once a certain economic threshold is reached, additional wealth does not significantly boost happiness.

When stumped by a life choice, choose “enlargement” over happiness. I’m indebted to the Jungian therapist James Hollis for the insight that major personal decisions should be made not by asking, “Will this make me happy?”, but “Will this choice enlarge me or diminish me?” We’re terrible at predicting what will make us happy: the question swiftly ge... See more

While doing the reporting for my book, I read a postmortem from a successful startup founder. They said something along the lines of: “One of the best things that can happen to you is to achieve professional success when you’re young. That way you can learn that it does little to change your happiness.” For better or worse, achieving your goals sho

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The longest running study on happiness: Harvard's 84 year old Study of Adult Development. Here are 7 lessons from the study to help you live a happier life: