Bummer: Author says we’re not built to be happy.

Wipe that grin off your face and read this fascinating, thought-provoking buzzkill of an article in The Times of London. I’ll wait.

   

All finished? Shocked? I certainly was, not least of all at the fantastic illustration at the top of the article (Ohhh, those saucy Brits.)  If this author writes the truth, then our perpetual search for happiness is actually making us miserable. While reading this article, I replaced my omnipresent optimistic, self-satisfied smile with a look of surprise. [In symbols: :} --> :O ] The pilates, the Feldenkrais, the spiritual novels, the deep connections with friends and family – have all my little attempts at improved happiness been for naught? Probably, says John Naish, in an excerpt from his upcoming book “Enough: Breaking Free From the World of More“:

“But no matter how hard you try to boost your happiness, science has a rather less rictus message: you’re smacking your head against a manufactured rainbow. The idea of being able to boost your happiness significantly is founded on a fallacy: if we look at our evolutionary wiring, we must conclude that we aren’t designed to have happiness as our natural default. It is not something that lies like a wall-to-wall carpet under a shoddy jumble of unhappinesses waiting to be vacu-brushed away.”

Forgive the charming use of “vacu-brushed” and reflect for a moment. Positive psychology, life coaches, positive thinking – all pillars of the made-up pursuit of happiness. The best we can hope for, Naish admits, is the less-flashy “contentment.”

When I got to this “contentment” bit at the end of the article, I was both confused and relieved. Aha, thought I, it is possible to increase your personal sense of well-being. Naish’s problem is just with the indistinct term “happiness.” Why not point out that distinction sooner? And really, who can say that all those people in the happiness industry are pushing for the wrong kind of smile-state?