How To Be Happy

May 25, 2012

Interview with Robert Mack, author of the book Happiness from the Inside Out: The Art and Science of Fulfillment

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Mike Carruthers:
Happiness: we often think of happiness as the result of something - when we get that job, when we make enough money or when we get married.

Robert Mack:
But the truth is that successful life outcomes and circumstances (all those things we just mentioned) account for only about ten percent of how happy or unhappy you are. So happiness is something that's a lot more than simply getting what you want.
 

Robert Mack, author of the book Happiness from the Inside Out: The Art and Science of Fulfillment,says another thing that gets in the way of our happiness is what's called our "negativity bias"…

Which basically means that by and large bad tends to get our attention much more than good does and that's true for evolutionary purposes. Back in caveman days a frightening bear deserved more of your attention than a bubbling brook or a stream. So it is something that's been handed down to us through genetics but it's also something that people practice. So when you practice looking for what's wrong all of the time you become very good at it and that's sort of what's happened with a lot of us.

What's fascinating is we often think success will bring happiness but research shows the opposite is true - happiness brings success.

By and large, happy people make about seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars more over the course of their life, they experience better health, they actually get married and tend to stay married longer. And when you turn that around and you look at people that are the most successful in life you'll see that usually they were happier earlier in their life and happiness (in an interesting way) is very attractive.