{"id":33782,"date":"2021-04-19T11:37:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T15:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=33782"},"modified":"2021-04-30T12:07:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T16:07:58","slug":"temporary-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can’t Always Be Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why does reaching your goals<\/a> only cause temporary happiness? Why can’t we always be happy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We often feel hollow and unfulfilled after achieving what we want. This is because happiness is temporary and if the happiness of achieving one thing lasted forever, then we’d never strive towards more goals. There are some things we can do to help us feel more fulfilled though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn about the psychology of temporary happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Adjusting Your Happiness<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A cornerstone of Buddhist belief, and that of many other Eastern religious traditions, is that striving for status and possessions causes only temporary happiness and will leave you spiritually unfulfilled and, ultimately, joyless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These faiths encourage breaking all emotional attachments to things and refraining from trying to attain what you don\u2019t have. The striving, according to this view, is the root of human unhappiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s true that we often feel hollow and unfulfilled even after we get temporary happiness from the things that we want (or, at least, we think <\/em>we want). But the self-denying philosophy of Buddhism gets some things wrong about human psychology. It turns out that some things are <\/em>worth striving for. The key is not to eliminate desire; it\u2019s to start desiring the right <\/em>things.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Temporary Happiness of Achievement<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before we delve into what we should <\/em>be striving for, it\u2019s worthwhile to explore why so many of the things we do <\/em>strive for leave us feeling unfulfilled<\/a>. We often experience only brief, temporary happiness when we achieve some long-held goal like landing a promotion, getting a new car, or getting good grades. Soon after, we feel the unquenchable urge to reach the next <\/em>milestone. Why are we never fully satisfied?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is actually rooted in evolution and neurochemistry. Our brains evolved to respond to immediate pleasures like food or sex (which both advance species success) with jolts of dopamine, which serve as a reinforcement mechanism. But the effects of any reinforcement mechanism are immediate and short-lived. We wouldn\u2019t have advanced very far as a species if every baby step we took toward a goal were rewarded by a permanent period of elation\u2014we would be content never reaching the goal! The pleasure, instead, comes from the baby steps you take along the way. This is known as the progress principle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accepting a New Normal<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is a fundamental truth of human psychology that follows from the progress principle\u2014no single event is likely to permanently alter your affective style, because you\u2019ll just reach a new plateau. This idea is known as the adaptation principle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the long run, we are much more sensitive to positive or negative changes relative <\/em>to our baseline than we are to absolute <\/em>changes. We can see this in happiness studies comparing lottery winners with people who\u2019ve become paraplegic due to injury or illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One might think that the lottery winners exist in a state of constant elation, while the paraplegics are trapped in a state of endless despair. And this is true\u2014for the short period after winning the lottery or losing the use of one\u2019s legs. But, after time, studies show that both groups adapt and settle into a new normal. Lottery winners become used to their new riches and find themselves no longer thrilled by their change in status (and often come to resent it because they are hounded by friends and relatives asking them for money). Meanwhile, paraplegics come to accept their condition and discover that life can have its joys even in their new normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You Can\u2019t Buy Happiness<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many people strive for money and social status. But happiness research<\/a> shows that having a high income or a position of prestige and authority is not well correlated with happiness at all<\/strong>. Rich, white Americans, for example, do not report being any happier than poor, minority Americans, despite the former\u2019s obvious material and social advantages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s true that, all other things being equal<\/em>, money is slightly correlated with higher happiness, but with very little marginal value for each dollar once someone has already met a certain financial threshold. Impoverished people do become much happier once they acquire enough money to meet basic needs like food and shelter. But after that, each additional <\/em>dollar adds very little in the way of happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong connections to other people and to something greater than yourself<\/a> matter more<\/strong>. Being in a good marriage is a series of joyful interactions with your partner, without a big \u201cpayoff,\u201d keeping well with the progress principle. It\u2019s no coincidence that good marriages and connections to religious communities are strongly correlated with happiness\u2014topics we\u2019ll explore in greater detail in later chapters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why does reaching your goals only cause temporary happiness? Why can’t we always be happy? We often feel hollow and unfulfilled after achieving what we want. This is because happiness is temporary and if the happiness of achieving one thing lasted forever, then we’d never strive towards more goals. There are some things we can do to help us feel more fulfilled though. Keep reading to learn about the psychology of temporary happiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[272],"class_list":["post-33782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","tag-the-happiness-hypothesis","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nTemporary Happiness: Why We Can't Always Be Happy - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why is happiness temporary? If the happiness of achieving one thing lasted forever, then we'd never strive towards more goals. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can't Always Be Happy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why is happiness temporary? If the happiness of achieving one thing lasted forever, then we'd never strive towards more goals. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-19T15:37:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-30T16:07:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1084\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"639\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can’t Always Be Happy\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-19T15:37:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-30T16:07:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/\"},\"wordCount\":799,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Happiness Hypothesis\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/\",\"name\":\"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can't Always Be Happy - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-19T15:37:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-30T16:07:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"Why is happiness temporary? If the happiness of achieving one thing lasted forever, then we'd never strive towards more goals. Read more.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg\",\"width\":1084,\"height\":639},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can’t Always Be Happy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\",\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hannah Aster\"},\"description\":\"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing\"],\"jobTitle\":\"SEO Team Lead\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can't Always Be Happy - Shortform Books","description":"Why is happiness temporary? If the happiness of achieving one thing lasted forever, then we'd never strive towards more goals. Read more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can't Always Be Happy","og_description":"Why is happiness temporary? If the happiness of achieving one thing lasted forever, then we'd never strive towards more goals. Read more.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-04-19T15:37:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-30T16:07:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1084,"height":639,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hannah Aster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hannah Aster","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/"},"author":{"name":"Hannah Aster","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f"},"headline":"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can’t Always Be Happy","datePublished":"2021-04-19T15:37:51+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-30T16:07:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/"},"wordCount":799,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg","keywords":["The Happiness Hypothesis"],"articleSection":["Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/","name":"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can't Always Be Happy - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-19T15:37:51+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-30T16:07:58+00:00","description":"Why is happiness temporary? If the happiness of achieving one thing lasted forever, then we'd never strive towards more goals. Read more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg","width":1084,"height":639},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/temporary-happiness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Temporary Happiness: Why We Can’t Always Be Happy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f","name":"Hannah Aster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hannah Aster"},"description":"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.","knowsAbout":["Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing"],"jobTitle":"SEO Team Lead","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/blowing-dandilion.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33791,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33782\/revisions\/33791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}