Happiness projects

It turns out that we are all perpetually involved in our own little versions of happiness projects. There are blogs and books and forums all about the subject. I'm reading a very psychologically objective work on the subject at the moment - thanks to CRS.

She handed it to me saying that she wanted it back, but that she bought it thinking of me. I don't talk about happiness projects much, so I was not sure what to think until I flipped the book over and looked at the back.

The first paragraph on the back of the book asks a lot of questions that I would be interested in exploring. But they aren't the point of the book. The last sentence says "...Gilbert explaines why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become."

I'm 50 pages in, so I don't know if he pulls it off, but the premise has already started my mind reeling. In the introduction, he describes the concept of prospection - that humans use our frontal lobe almost entirely to think about the future. He explains that we do this in order to predict what will happen next so that we have some feeling of control over the future. The point of control is to give ourselves a chance to choose the best possible future, BUT it doesn't work. No matter how much control we have and how wisely we choose in the present, "...the future is fundamentally different that it appears through the prospectiscope." (p25)

This is so obvious. I could come up with dozens of examples from today alone. But, at the same time, it strikes me as fairly profound. There are obvious cause and effect relationships between present actions and future results, but there really is no way to know how I will feel tomorrow about the best laid plans of today.

I'm still sorting through his ideas in my head, particularly in relation to a number of current discussions with my Council of Advisors (you ladies know who you are, don't you?) and in my household, so I'm not sure where my reaction to this will go over the next few days. For me, though, where this idea ends up is not really the point.

My subjective version of happiness requires regular introduction and exploration of new ideas. It feels like they wake my brain up to new connections and perspective. This book, therefore, has already contributed to my happiness. But, at the same time, I'm fairly sure that I would not have picked it up at the store. Oddly enough, I think that just proved his point.