Patricia Mou

Most of us, however, develop a portfolio of meaning – we have multiple sources of it in our lives, and cannot in fact derive it from only one source any more than we can be healthy on a diet of bread and water.

1. Intellectual Curiosity.  Intellectual curiosity is a real-world superpower.

6. Antifragility. Do not be broken by this chaos and disorder; rather, adopt a mentality that you will benefit from it.

Here, then, are some methods for becoming happier: If you suffer from serious illness, depression, anxiety, paranoia, schizophrenia, or other serious problems, seek professional help first. Develop the skills and habits associated with extroversion. Improve your self-esteem and optimism. Improve your agreeableness. Improve your conscientiousness. D... See more

9. Noise Cancellation. The ability to cancel out the noise - to truly focus on the task at hand - is both broadly applicable and extremely powerful.

In other words, their pursuit of happiness seems more successful than ours because it is not a solitary endeavor. African happiness is a joint enterprise, something that can only be created by the whole. I am happy because we are happy. Much contentment arises from a sense of family, community, and connectedness.

Coordinating with other humans is key to achieving lasting impact. Coordination helps us grow our well of common knowledge, build things, become better humans and create more value for the world than we could on our own.

Note that seeking happiness as an end might be counterproductive. Many people report that constantly checking to see if they are happy actually decreases their happiness - a report that fits with the research on "flow." It may be better to seek some of the above goals as ends, and happiness will be a side-effect.