Happiness Myths

The Harvard and Stanford educated psychologist Dr Sonja Lyubomirsky shares three happiness myths that everyone should stop believing right away, from her book, The Myths of Happiness.

Lyubomirsky is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. Her book argues we have been given false promises by the society and our parents. These assure us that lifelong happiness will be attained once we hit the bulls-eye on the markers of adult success.

This mythical view of happiness discourages us from recognizing the upsides of negative life turns, and blocks us from realizing our full growth potential. Our expectations about happiness make us steer clear of emotional landmines and drive us to make some toxic life decisions.

Prof. Lyubomirsky says,

What should make you happy, but doesn’t. What shouldn’t make you happy, but does.

That’s the basic premise of her book — to dispel the erroneous ideas about what really doesn’t make us happy, but we think they do.

Do You Trust These 3 Myths of Happiness?

Happiness Myth #1. I won’t be happy until I get a promotion or land my “dream” job

Think back to the moment when you were hired at your current job—you probably felt a big boost of well-being, and you were excited by the opportunities and challenges of your new role. Unfortunately, the excitement we feel happens less and less as we turn our minds toward the countless daily hassles, uplifts, and distractions of life.

We begin to feel our novel and stimulating work experiences have simply become our “new normal.” This is due to a psychological phenomenon called hedonic adaptation.

Happiness Myth #2. I’m going to lead a sad, lonely life because I’m single

Do you often find yourself imagining a solitary life, sitting by the window all by yourself? Erase that picture from your mind.

People who remain single have lives of incredible value and purpose. They are useful to and caring of their friends, siblings, extended family members, communities, jobs. They are often dedicated to some great cause. In fact, research has found that when compared to their married peers, the single people tend to be closer to their siblings and cousins.

Not only that, they keep developing new friendships as they age. They also stay in better touch with their friends.

Happiness Myth #3. I’ll never be a doctor or an astronaut, so I can’t be happy

We all have dreams since the early years of our lives, but we often have flawed assumptions about whether we can still be happy despite not achieving those dreams. Psychologists argue that to be truly unburdened by regrets involves freeing ourselves from our “lost possible selves”—the neurosurgeon self, the grandparent self, the small-business owner self.

To do this, we need to reflect on our lost promises to gain a new perspective, which in turn, enables us to understand ourselves and our lives better, and to set new priorities and envision new futures for ourselves.

[The article was originally published on Happify Daily. Read the original article.]

Final Words

Whatever our age, most of us tend to hold this myth: our happiness declines with age. We think in old age, we inevitably become grumpier and sadder. But research proves beyond doubt older people are happier and more satisfied with their lives than younger people. Also, their happiness levels are more stable, and they are far less swayed by negative things happening in their lives.

So, take a dive into a happier life by throwing away these myths of happiness. And here is a video by Russ Harris, author of  The Happiness Trap:

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Author Bio: Written and reviewed by Sandip Roy – medical doctor, psychology writer, happiness researcher. Founder of Happiness India Project, and chief editor of its blog. He writes popular-science articles on positive psychology and related medical topics.

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