The contentment gene should be patented. But if not born with it, is there other ways to acquire it? Some have called it the happiness set point. Looking at our expectations might be a good place to start. Sometimes we need to be vigilant to ensure that our expectations are not fueling our unhappiness. Expecting little can ironically lead to a happier life as one doesn’t suffer constant disappointment. In our Western world we often grow up with a sense of entitlement. We expect to do better than the last generation. We expect to own a fashionable home, we expect Continue reading
Tag Archives: happiness set point
Learning to Enjoy the Everyday
Jane Austen had much to say in an indirect way about living the local and everyday life – the simple life. To us in a time of environmental damage it may also be worthwhile for us to consider how others in the past lived a sustainable life. That is not to romanticize the past or sentimentalize it but to learn from it and apply it to a modern setting.
Astoundingly in the affluent West we have rates of depression and mental illness that startle us. Why? Continue reading
Filed under Living the Simple Life