The secret to happiness

How much control do you really have over your happiness, and how effectively are you pursuing it? American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks distills 40 years of social science research into a surprising set of answers.

#politics #news #government #education #happy #happiness #philosophy #psychology

Partial transcript:
If I do my job in the next few minutes, I'm going to give you the secret to happiness so that when you go home tonight you can
start living a happier life, and you can start sharing with more
people so that they can have a happier life too. So let's start with
what we know about happiness. There have been hundreds, literally hundreds, of studies by economists and social scientists and psychologists about happiness, hundreds over the past thirty and forty years. And basically they all start by asking the question: who's happy? In the United States we know that all the way back to the 1970s a very stable proportion of the population is very happy. About a third of Americans say anonymously and in accurate tests an accurate surveys that they're very happy people.
Okay, we have no reason to doubt that this is true. A little over fifty percent say they're somewhat happy, about 10 to 15 percent of the population is chronically depressed and say they're not very happy. Okay now, that's actually not the most interesting question. The most interesting question is what brings happiness. And we know the answer to that too. It's three things, three things bring happiness: genetics, big life events, and choices. And I'm going to tell you about all three, starting with genetics. Now, a few years ago social scientists at the University of Minnesota constructed a wonderful database that included seventy five pairs of identical
twins born between the mid-1930s and the mid 1950s. Now they were separated at birth and adopted by separate families. It's like a social scientist's dream it's almost as if the government had done this. And at age 40 they were reunited and they were given a personality test, so they were asked about the things that were
going on their lives and the way that they viewed their lives. This is really interesting because you've got DNA carbon copies of each other and they have different upbringings so you can net out the parts that are nature and the parts that are nurture, statistically, and what did they find? They found that 48 percent of their happiness is genetic. As a matter of fact they found that more
of their personality was genetic than they ever understood before. Forty percent of how you vote is genetic, forty percent of how you worship is genetic, so this explains some things. Do you have
someone in your life who is chronically happy? Do you have a coworker who's happy all the time? It's very irritating, by the way, and so it sometimes you wonder, that person is just happy all the time. What are they doing right? What's their secret? Their secret is their DNA. Are you a grumpy person? Are you dark and brooding. It's your DNA it's not your fault, you have lousy parents
is basically what it comes down to. So if that's the case does it really matter what we do? The answer is yeah because if half of it is taken away from you you better get the other half right. Now forty-percent is genetic but there are other innate qualities, other innate characteristics that are really important, the most interesting of which is gender. Who's happier, men or women?

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#news #politics #government #education

[keirarose]

a few weeks ago i started acting happy which made the people around me happier. and when my peers are happy it comes off on me, endless cycle of positivity

[janscott]

While I don't have the science to back it up I believe that gratitude, humility and a sense of humour go a long way to making one happy. But that could just be my genes talking.

[AEI]

Think winning the lottery will make you happy? Think again. Find out the secret to happiness: The secret to happiness #happiness  

[allvideoproductions]

it all begins with loving yourself. always hold on to a strong sense of self-love

[elboertjie]

Skip to 14:10 to find the 'key' to what he says happiness is.

[lovemecom]

The secret to happiness is to live life to the fullest. Don't mind other's, just keep doing things that could make you happy.

[AEI]

How much control do you really have over your happiness? The answer might surprise you: The secret to happiness

[tridentjohn]

Great work. I have observed that investing or working at making people happy in the workplace does not help make them more productive. However, investing or working at helping or making them more productive does make them happier. Earning brings self esteem and reduces emotional dependence on approval or being liked.
It's the genius of the Declaration of Independence illuminating the Pursuit of Happiness, the pursuit brings the happiness.

[GerardoBlancoDean]

Thank you very much. I think we have been working hard since birth to be happy, and enjoy the happiness that little things give us.

[rastaballet]

Actually happiness is not something you can be or have. The human being experiences many emotions at many times for many reasons. Happiness is simply one of them. What most people refer to as happiness is really satisfaction. Primarily satisfaction with oneself. True and complete satisfaction should be the goal, and yes. it is very hard to obtain. So many of us fake it, often with trying to be happy. It really doesn't work. The simple rule is this: less regrets = more satisfaction, no regrets = complete satisfaction.

It's unfortunate that we rely so much on words to communicate. Words are the bane of communication. They are limited by time, education, culture, age, experience, etc. It's simply too limiting, and, as such, it is very hard to communicate, because even the word satisfaction is open to so many interpretations and translations.

Like love, which we wrongly believe is an emotion that we can give or receive, when in fact it is part of a state of being. You can either have love in you or not. Choose love. It actually will set you free.

Happy Holidays!

[jerryutah]

This is a great video. Thanks for sharing.

[earthmoon]

Felt like this started off kinda good but then it went on huge tangent. What didn't make sense to me is that if 89% of people are currently satisfied with work then why act like that's the cause of where people's unhappiness comes from. He decided to focus on that as if that is the key. Yeah free market and entrepreneurship is all good, but how about we address the barriers to that for people who aren't in the middle or upper class.

The key to happiness does seem to be finding meaning in your life (not necessarily your job), doing things to help others, and having good relationships with family and friends. So many people have no friends, or friends who aren't really that supportive. Others have family that they don't get along with and are in toxic marriages. Many are too busy trying to survive financially that we feel like we don't have time or the ability to help others. So although I agree with his four things that build happiness, I don't agree with him focusing on the work part. That seems the least relevant for most people in terms of what we can control.

[ferdinandalexander]

As long as you know happiness you'll know unhappiness. One cannot survive without the other. Your demand for happiness it making you unhappy. If you are fortunate enough to reach point where you really don't know what happiness is then you'll never know unhappiness.

[TheMichaelStott]

i believe there is a great irony in Happiness. We spend so much time believing that Happiness is the norm and other emotions when we feel them are abnormal that we will expend so much time and energy trying to be happy that eventually we get stressed out, create more anxiety and become depressed. Life isn't always happy, it doesn't always go your way and the the biggest happy killer is when someone's life's ends. We get upset, we get frustrated, we get angry. We get Sad, we become overwhelmed, we get tired both emotionally and physically but we try so hard to put on that brave face and say we are happy. wouldn't things turn around a bit at work if asked are you happy with your job you say "not really and here's why" but instead we will choose to "suck it up" and maybe when nothing is done quit to find that happiness we were longing for? most people at 40+ are starting to go through a life phase where they have become comfortable and more likely really good at what they do. They have achieved great deal of things but it's also a time where self reflection comes into play "have I done enough?, could I have done better?" which leads us to think we haven't so we become unhappy and because being unhappy is "Not Normal" we start to think of the what if's. I'm 40 years old now but in 2012 I was medically discharged from a very happy career in the medical corps in the Army. suddenly i was faced with one of those life changing events but it wasn't what I wanted. Many people go through being retrenched, fired what about them? "Suck it up and put on a brave, happy face" if you look at that from reality; what happened was a gut wrenching, soul crushing event. the emotion of sadness allows us to stop, take note of the situation because when you're sad you don't feel like doing anything, why would we have that emotion? so our body and mind can stop us from jumping into something else too quickly. it gives us some time to recharge and hopefully focus us towards things that do matter more in the long run. bit like a failed relationship and the grief a person goes through "oh there's plenty more fish in the sea, gotta get back on the horse etc" that's where we can get a Re-bound affect happen. great you just fell into a relationship to gain gratification that you moved on but it doesn't last. You gained some resilience to breaking up with people but that other person goes through the same process you did. 
I believe that the Secret to Happiness is that it is not the only emotion you have that can bring you benefits. 
I understand though that if you are Sad for too long this maybe Depression or if you're too easily angered at many things there maybe problems but in those cases, professionals can help guide you through that, just that we don't always learn the best parts of us from our happiest moments. Instant gratification is the new happiness trap and I agree that hard (but smart and realistic)work is much better for the person but sometimes that means you are not going to be happy about what you have to do or give up and being mindful of the other feelings you will go through will most certainly mitigate the risks of giving up.

[OwenReefin]

I just love this video. I could watch it over and over again.

[JosePerez-tkdc]

Hey I'm nothing like my parents they stress
And anger all the time
I was raised with abuse and bullying but I've always wondered to why I haven't been able to hate life
My mom expects something else from me. Always focusing on money

I'm different I plan on being a social activist
I'm completely different than my parents

I come from Guatemala in Central America and its very very violent.
Happiness is what you make of it
This guy can't tell you how to get it
You have to go on your own journey on life and find it out yourself
Look for it until you feel right.

I respect this guy
Not insulting him
Bytheway

[shyaaammeneen]

Excellent talk. Meditation is also a fantastic way to find inner peace of mind and happiness because a person reaches a state of mind where nothing external disturbs him..

[LearnEnglishESL]

"Man is, in reality, a spiritual being, and only when he lives in the spirit is he truly happy." – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 24.

[toffeetarfa]

wow i'm really lucky to watch this video, one of the best ever !

[trevbeats]

Thank you, mind lifting. My faith in me has increased.