Synthesizing Happiness

This blog post is a reflection on a TED talk called "The Surprising Science of Happiness" that I watched for my Personality Theories class, and my professor later recommended that I turn it into a blog post. Like my previous post, this is a slightly modified version of the original assignment.Hope you enjoy! The reference section has a link to the video discussed here. I highly recommend watching it! 

As soon as I opened this video, I realized I had seen it before. I do not remember when, in which class, or if I saw it on my own time, but this video is extremely familiar. It is discussing happiness. Dan Gilbert opens with a discussion of how our brain structures, such as the prefrontal cortex, allow us to figure out how things might work out in the future. He uses an example of knowing that liver and onions ice cream would be gross before trying it. I was reminded of what happens when I start picking classes for the next semester. I read the course description for a class I am considering, and that allows me to think about how I might perform in that kind of class. When I read about Personality Theories, for example, my first thought was that I could see myself being fascinated by the subject. However, when I had to choose a science course, I could skip over the section on chemistry courses because I could envision how unwise of a decision that would be without having to register for the class and attempt the coursework.  Next, Gilbert began to discuss how happy people are with their circumstances. As it turns out, people who win the lottery, and people who become paraplegic have the same level of happiness a year afterwards. The reason he brought this up was to discuss the hedonic bias, or the idea that people tend to think a positive experience will make them happier than it really will. I was always jealous of my friends who had iPhones in high school because my parents would not let me have one. I was sure I was missing out on something amazing, but when I got one this year, I realized that I do not love it as much as I thought I would. I would have been perfectly happy with a less expensive phone.

Next, Gilbert makes the claim that we can “synthesize happiness.” In other words, we can make ourselves happy, even though we assume that we have to find happiness. Synthetic happiness is what we create when things do not go our way. He discussed examples such as Pete Best, the drummer who was replaced by Ringo Starr before The Beatles got famous. People are always surprised when I tell them how blessed I am and how much I genuinely love my life. They assume that because my life is oftendifficult, it automatically is unpleasant. This is not the case. I have learned to find joy in my family, my faith, my friends, my school, and my interests even when my health is not as good as it could be. I have made it through seven major surgeries, four of which were brain surgeries, three pressure sores that rendered me unable to walk for several weeks at a time, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and bullying, and I made it through with hope for a better future, a positive attitude (except when I was depressed, of course), and my faith in God largely intact. My ability to do this is probably related to my  ability to synthesize happiness, and find joy wherever I can. Another example of synthesizing happiness was shown in a series of experiments. Interestingly, after performing experiments on amnesiac and non-amnesiac patients where they had to rank certain paintings, and then were given a print of their third choice, both groups later ranked this third choice higher than they had before. His next point is directly related to the example I gave related to my disability. He points out that people synthesize happiness best when they are in a situation they cannot get out of. When I was very little, my physical therapist would tell me that by high school, I would be walking unassisted. In first grade, I could stumble slowly down a hallway without assistance and I loved it. Unfortunately, a couple years later, I had a growth spurt and lost the ability to walk without crutches. I struggled for years to get the ability back, but to no avail. When I finally realized that it was not going to happen and decided to focus on what I can do, I was much happier and more at peace with my disability. Similarly, I used to hate the idea of using a wheelchair instead of crutches, but when I realized it would be the only way I could go to the mall, go to Disney World, go to high school on rainy days, and eventually, go to Spring Hill, suddenly being in a wheelchair did not seem so terrible. I find that I am much less tired and achy at the end of the day. I can get around faster. I can dance...well, sorta...I don't like to dance on my own, but I like dancing with a partner and occasionally in groups.I can play wheelchair basketball, and I can even go to ice-skating rinks! We rationalize our circumstances and see them positively. 

His last point illustrated that indecisiveness, whether it is indecisiveness when choosing a picture to keep after completing a photography course, indecisiveness over choosing a college, etc., are not worth worrying about because we will find a way to be happy with whatever decision we make (TED2004, 2004). I've been in many situations where I drove myself nuts after a difficult decisions, worrying that I did the wrong thing. Now, I try to impose limits on myself, such as, "You can ask x amount of people for advice and then you have to make a decision and stick to it" or "you need to make a decision by such and such time and then you need to stop thinking about it," and that has helped quite a bit. I still worry, because that's just part of my personality, but I'm getting better about it. I got tired of driving myself nuts over decisions, and I'm choosing to be at peace with my decisions. Time I spend worrying is time I could be spending on useful pursuits, like academic work, reading, drawing, or blogging about social justice issues. 

Findings discussed in my Personality Theories textbook corroborate what Gilbert is saying. In the text, happy people are described as self-reporting positive emotions, and being perceived by family and friends as being particularly happy as well. Happy people also tend to focus more on the positive aspects of their life, rather than the negative, much like Pete Best who was kicked out of the Beatles before they got famous but still managed to make a happy, satisfying life for himself. Another finding suggests that some people are going to be happier than others despite having more difficult circumstances or despite differences in age, health, gender, etc. Also, wealth does not make people happier once it hits a certain level of wealth (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2002) Once people have enough money to live comfortably, adding on extra wealth does not change their level of happiness (Larsen & Buss, 2014.) Readers, my challenge to you is twofold: for the sake of your health and happiness,"Worry less. Smile more Accept criticism. Take responsibility. Listen & Love. Don't hate. Embrace change..." and spread that joy to others! God bless. :) (www.idlehearts.com/worry-less-smile-more/1277)

References

TED2004 (2004).The surprising science of happiness. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy?language=en

Larsen, R. J., & Buss, D. M. (2014). Personality psychology: domains of knowledge about human nature. (5th ed., pp. 535-536). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

www.idlehearts.com/worry-less-smile-more/1277