Show On Screen — slide no . 40 – 41
Reasons happiness can be hard to find
• What we think would make us happy doesn ’ t always .
• Some activities only make you happy when you are doing them so the effect is soon over .
• We quickly adapt , so the effect of doing something wears off and we soon want something else .
• Our brains like new experiences .
Reasons happiness can be hard to find
« script »
What we think would make us happy doesn ’ t always . Most people in life would like to earn more money but research all over the world shows that having more money or possessions rarely makes people happy in the long term .
Some activities only make you happy when you are doing them so the effect is soon over . Eating your favourite food is great , but once the meal is over , it ’ s over .
• We compare our lives to others .
• We do things that are not helpful even though they are enjoyable .
• We are not aware that some of the key ingredients to happiness are missing and we might not even know what they are .
We quickly adapt so the effect wears off and we soon want something else . You get some new clothes , but after a short period of time we want something else that is new .
Our brains like new experiences . Neurons in the pleasure centre of the brain are wired to respond to novel events , and not to fire if the events do not provide new information or experiences .
We compare our lives to others so rather than focusing on what we have , we focus on what we don ’ t have and become dissatisfied . We see that someone else has more friends than us , so we think we would like more friends rather than appreciating the ones we have .
We do things that are not helpful even though they are enjoyable . Staying up late on our phones can result in us not getting enough sleep and this can have a serious impact on our mental health .
We are not aware that some of the key ingredients to happiness are missing and we might not even know what they are . Did you know that forgiving people can help you become happier ?
So , in our pursuit of happiness it is probably worth finding out what psychologists say actually works .
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