Our Brain Accepts What The

We Are Happy When We Have Family, We Are Happy When We Have Friends And Almost All The Other Things We Think Make Us Happy Are Actually Just Ways Of Getting More Family And Friends.

Alas, We Think Of Ourselves As Unique Entities-minds Unlike Any Others-and Thus We Often Reject The Lessons That The Emotional Experience Of Others Has To Teach Us.

We All Have Direct Experience With Things That Do Or Don't Make Us Happy, We All Have Friends, Therapists, Cabdrivers, And Talk-show Hosts Who Tell Us About Things That Will Or Won't Make Us Happy, And Yet, Despite All This Practice And All This Coaching, Our Search For Happiness Often Culminates In A Stinky Mess. We Expect The Next Car, The Next House, Or The Next Promotion To Make Us Happy Even Though The Last Ones Didn't And Even Though Others Keep Telling Us That The Next Ones Won't.

Part Of Us Believes The New Car Is Better Because It Lasts Longer. But, In Fact, That's The Worst Thing About The New Car. It Will Stay Around To Disappoint You, Whereas A Trip To Europe Is Over. It Evaporates. It Has The Good Sense To Go Away, And You Are Left With Nothing But A Wonderful Memory.

Lower Your Cortisol Level. The Happiest People Have The Lowest Level Of Cortisol, A Stress Hormone That Raises Blood Pressure And Weakens The Immune System. Cut The Stress-more Yoga, Less Road Rage-and You'll Cut Your Cortisol Production.