More than a feeling

Arthur Brooks says happiness is not a feeling and he is right. It is instead the creation of conditions that promote health, peace and stability. The feelings go up and down but the harmony is there surrounding us because of those conditions. 

The longest study on happiness ever conducted found that health and human connections were the only things that contributed to happiness. The income, once beyond the basic necessities plus a little extra for leisure, had no significant impact towards increasing it. 

We all live inside our heads and because of it are our own worst enemies but eventually with life experience we learn what is truly important and what should be jettisoned as flotsam. We also hopefully learn to think for ourselves. 

As I have aged my perspective has improved and am aware of when my occasional negative moods are derailing me. Those aren't a measure of unhappiness but a reflection of the ease by which our own psyches are prone to hitting little speed bumps.

There is probably no more dangerous affliction in humanity than being self aware. It can be beneficial but at the same time invariably make us suffer its darker side.