Picking up from yesterday’s happiness definition, we take a deep dive into “satisfaction” as it relates to the second prong of our happiness definition. 

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and Arthur Brooks is an accomplished scientist and professor at the Harvard Business School and he says SATISFACTION = WHAT YOU HAVE ÷ WHAT YOU WANT.

This is so true.  It’s what we tell our kids all the time.  Be happy with what you have.  Brooks opines that so many of us desperately go about life trying to gather up more “wants” trying to achieve higher levels of satisfaction by increasing our wants (the numerator in this division equation).  He says the cycle of work-spend-work-spend is like being on a treadmill.  It’s never enough. 

What he says the secret is, is to focus on what you have (the denominator in this division equation).  We talked about this in Episode 23 about the reverse bucket list. So, decreasing the wants in our lives and focusing on the haves, gives our brain a chance to see happiness and satisfaction because there are fewer wants taking our attention away from what we already have.  Start by making a list of what you have, if that seems too daunting, perhaps start with a simple gratitude list.  We know that gratitude is a great boost for happiness and then work your way into a haves list.  I think you’ll be surprised what shows up for you. 

Tomorrow we are going to explore purpose, which is part of the second prong of the happiness definition. 

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