"The Surprising Science of Happiness"

After watching Dan Gilbert’s TED talk about "The surprising science of happiness", it really made me look at what I think makes me happy. Gilbert talked about how everyone thinks our outcome will be different if we get this, if we win, or if we gain in other words it sucks if we lose. But, he says that happiness can be synthesized, there is synthetic happiness. Now personally I have no idea what he means by this term, but he continues by giving some examples. Jim Wright, a famous democratic that lost everything his money and power, said “I am so much better off.” But wait it gets better, Moreese Bickham, a man put in jail for 37 years for a crime he was found later that he never committed, said he had not one minute’s regret “It was a glorious experience.” And finally, Pete Best, the original drummer for the Beatles who was later dumped by them, said, “I’m happier than I would have been with the Beatles.” These people are just a few of many who have found happiness after what we all consider to be traumatic events. Even though an event from the beginning may not be what we want, we never know if that leads us to the better future. We shouldn’t underestimate the bad paths in life from the good; we should embrace all that has happened to us with open minds, allowing life to take its toll. I think that the quote “Expect the unexpected” works really well here, because say the unthinkable happens, all that goes through the mind is life hates me and the end is near, but really before you know it a new door opens up and you find new people, loves, memories, and good times that you would never have guessed could come out of such a low point in our life. I think that this really is a great reminder to everyone, that when possibly we don’t get that “A” grade or our heart is broken by our true love or our dreams are shattered, there is more than that sad ending we think we are at. Those times we felt “It’s the end of the world as we know it!” no it’s not the end. There are no ends there are only beginnings. With happiness, I think, we shouldn’t anxiously demand for it and constantly drive ourselves insane searching for it, but instead let it happen out of the unexpected, let happiness find us.