People have been searching for the key to happiness for millennia. 

This week’s posts presented my take on this interesting subject. Given its complexity, the posts were a bit longer than usual, but they certainly were very interesting to research and write. 

Today’s post presents the more easily digestible summary.

The checklist

Here are the four key happiness insights shared this week:

1. Directly chasing happiness is pointless.
   • The amount of time and money spent on instant pleasure activities is actually a good indicator of unhappiness.
   • Instead, we need to focus on things that give meaning to life.  
2. Materialistic pursuits of happiness have their benefits, but also some serious drawbacks.
   • Although the pursuit of material success brings little lasting happiness, it has fueled great human progress.
   • But this motivation has a dark side in terms of environmental destruction, social injustice and self-destructive behaviors.
3. The combination liberty and purpose offers an attractive solution.
   • This philosophy can further accelerate human progress without any of the downsides.
   • As an added bonus, it can actually bring genuine life satisfaction. 
4. Informed gratefulness can make big contributions to happiness.
   • Gratitude increases happiness because it can reset our benchmarks to more reasonable levels. 
   • There are at least 6 big reasons to be grateful that most of us take for granted today. 

These insights won’t make you permanently happy. But they can certainly give much more meaning to the daily grind and create a more positive outlook on life. 

I really hope they work for you as they do for me! A happier world is a better world for all of us 🙂