A couple of years ago I read a book called Stumbling on Happiness by a guy named Dan Gilbert. I devoured it, reading long passages out loud to my wife. And yet I think, somehow, that I managed to miss the point of the book, or at least quickly forget it.

Fast-forward to a few days ago, and I become aware that Gilbert has given not one, but two TED Talks, and that both are available for free on their site. And they are both absolutely worth watching.

The concept that Gilbert presents that hits home strongest for me is that though our current society tends to look down on “synthesized happiness” (think of someone who by all accounts should be down-and-out, but yet claims to be perfectly happy), there is in fact no difference at all between synthesized happiness and “real happiness” (that is, happiness that is achieved when goals are met).

I’m probably not describing it very eloquently, so I recommend jumping in and just watching. Here’s the first video from September 26, 2006, called Why are we happy?

The second video is from December 16, 2008 and is titled Our mistaken expectations.

Interestingly, Gilbert stumbled into his current line of work after doing years of dead-end jobs and finally deciding he would like to become a novelist. Upon attempting to sign up for a creative writing class at his local community college and finding it full, he decided to enroll in a psychology course, figuring that it would help him with character development. Fast-forward to now, and he’s a celebrated Harvard prof and bestselling author. Not too shabby.

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