The New York Times Magazine published another interesting article:
The Futile Pursuit of Happiness
definitely worth reading — the article tries to answer questions about our expectations of happiness. will that BMW make us happy? researchers have found that it will probably not make us as happy as we expect. will a death of a loved one cause us incredible grief? maybe, but the long term effect of a death will make us less sad than we suspect.
according to the article, humans tend not to predict very well the gradation of happiness.
I don’t agree that the pursuit of happiness if futile at all. I do think,however, that we all need a proper perspective of happiness. Happiness comes from gratitude for the people and things in our lives.
It’s a good thing that negative emotions, such as bereavement for example, do not last forever as it is depressing and a heart breaker and postpones happiness.
I guess for balance the fantastic emotions can’t last forever either.