Behavior: The Pursuit of Happiness

Happiness comes from the perfect match between expectations and reality. When that match is off, the difference is the amount of unhappiness a person has. Adjusting expectations to reality is one way to be happier. Letting go of unrealistic expectations can be the key to happiness for many people.

Knowing yourself is a tall order, even though it sounds simple, but it’s also a key to happiness. The more you know about yourself, the better you can take care of yourself, put yourself in situations which will turn out to be happy-making situations, and keep yourself out of those that will not yield happiness as a result.

Physical fitness and health directly relate to happiness, and if someone is healthy and fit they’re going to feel better, happier, more peaceful and less depressed, stressed and unhappy.

The people who are most happy, ironically, are probably people who are not in the public eye because they don’t put themselves through the ups and downs of emotions that actors or other famous people do. It’s no surprise that so many actors and famous people turn to to drugs, alcohol or other medicating substances or behaviors to anesthetize their feelings because so many of those feelings are bad ones. The life of people who subject themselves to stress is much more harrowed than people who subject themselves to peaceful living.