Complex Numbers

Pursuit

Here's something sure to brighten everyone's day, if for no other reason than this Time article is shorter than some of the others that have popped up lately.

    Obsessing Over Your Own Happiness Makes You Less Happy  

Well, I'm not sure that's true for everyone. You never know what'll make someone happy, sometimes. Like, I've known people who were only happy after they made everyone around them miserable. So it's not a stretch to believe that obsessing over... whatever... might be pleasing to someone. Given all the obsessing people tend to do, I'd almost guarantee it.

Happiness is a worthy pursuit.

Is it, though? Is it really? Or are other things worthy of pursuit, and happiness is a byproduct of that?

But fixating too much on achieving it often leads to bad feelings when you fall short—which ultimately makes you less happy.

Especially if you expect not to fall short.

That’s the finding of a new study published in the journal Emotion.

For once, I actually clicked on the link provided to the study. I didn't read it too closely, but I'd take it with the same level of skepticism as any other psych study, even if it does speak to my biases.

In the study, people who said they were worried about achieving and maintaining happiness tended to have more depressive symptoms, worse well-being, and less life satisfaction than those who simply held happiness as a goal—and didn’t fret about whether they were meeting it.

Which is, honestly, exactly the result I'd expect. Which doesn't mean it's right. Or wrong. But to me it's like a study that investigated whether cumulus clouds look soft and fluffy.

What’s the secret, then? Take the pressure off and stop taking your own happiness temperature so often, Zerwas says.

Okay.

Embrace all of your feelings—both happy and sad ones—since all emotions can be informative, providing us insights into our psychic makeup.

Okay.

And practice cognitive-behavioral strategies such as mindfulness—being present in one’s emotions and aware of what those feelings are—to truly tune in.

Aaaaand you lost me.

I feel like this "pursuit of happiness" thing is mostly an American phenomenon, thanks to the famous words in the Declaration of Independence. There's some discussion   over what exactly was meant by "happiness" therein, but I'm pretty sure the connotation of the word has changed in the last 250 years. It probably didn't mean a feeling of unbridled joy, but something closer to security.

And in my experience, living without fear is happiness enough.