Stumbling on Happiness

(Below text is from Shambala Sun - click here for entire article. It's worth it!)

Are we just too stupid to be happy? Psychologist Daniel Gilbert reveals some of the common mental mistakes that defeat our search for happiness.

Daniel Gilbert says we get in the way of our own happiness because we don’t understand how our mind works and the tricks it plays on us. The Harvard psychologist is author of the best-selling Stumbling on Happiness. His research shows that most of us look at both the past and the future through rose-colored glasses, downplaying painful times of the past and overestimating experiences in the future. He says this is just one of the ways that faulty thinking defeats our attempts to achieve happiness.

Gilbert is in the growing field of happiness studies, which tries to determine what makes us happy and why. Some of its findings seem obvious but others may surprise you. In this interview with the Shambhala Sun, Daniel Gilbert offers insights to make you think—and think about your thinking.