Science of happiness

The attachment we have to an individual can supersede an overall decrease in our quality of life, and so the love we usually have toward our children means that our choice to bring them into existence has value above and beyond whatever effect they have on our happiness.

“We are not here to fit in, be well balanced, or provide exempla for others. We are here to be eccentric, different, perhaps strange, perhaps merely to add our small piece, our little clunky, chunky selves, to the great mosaic of being… we are here to become more and more ourselves.” ― James Hollis, What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life

There is nothing more satisfying than being loved for who you are and nothing more painful than being loved for who you’re not but pretending to be.

Carrying out five random acts of kindness a week dramatically improves your happiness.