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There's a catch 22 in optimizing happiness. The people who are most effortfully, consciously aiming towards happiness never seem in the happiest 10% of people.

There's a catch 22 in optimizing happiness. The people who are most effortfully, consciously aiming towards happiness never seem in the happiest 10% of people. The happiest 10% of people are appreciating nature, or spiritual and trying to glorify God, or on a mission to save the world. It's like trying really really hard to fall asleep. The act of conscious aiming makes you sad every time things are less than optimal. Happiness itself is also a raw goal: you could be really happy hooked up to heroine, aiming for that gets you to a place that is ironically very depressing.

_fat_santa 4y ago
The way I see it, happiness is a derivative, meaning you can't directly influence your happiness, you can only do things that might influence it. The struggle is optimizing that activity to deliver happiness in the best way. Your example about heroin is a really good one, because while it's one of the most direct ways to happiness, it does it in the worst way imaginable. But I don't think it's a catch-22 because people achieve it in vastly different ways. My buddy likes going clubbing on the weekends, it brings him loads of happiness, I personally would not be happy spending time that way. Likewise I love going outdoors and hiking, and I'm pretty sure he would be miserable in my form of "happiness".