is harder than it sounds. At least, according to research by these guys (Dans Gilbert and Kahneman, and Tim Wilson), as reported in the New York Times The Futile Pursuit of Happiness
The basic finding is that people are really bad at predicting how events will affect their future happiness, at least in terms of intensity and duration. Good things won't make you happy as much or as long as you think, but then again bad things won't affect you as much as you think, either.
They are cautious about drawing public policy conclusions from this, and I think rightly so, but it does suggest that overextending yourself to achieve that one thing or event that you really covet (or avoid that one thing you really dread) is not the way to maximize your happiness. A better strategy seems to be to minimize the minor irritations, while going for smaller and steadier rewards. In other words, when it comes to mazimizing happiness, Epicurus was right all along.
Posted by joshua at September 9, 2003 10:37 PM