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Why I’ve Stopped Pursuing Happiness

Science and a survey reveal the pursuits that really matter

One year ago, on Jan. 1, 2019, I resolved to explore, understand and write about happiness: what it is, what it means, and what we can do about it. I went in with an open mind, hoping to figure out who has happiness and why, and how the rest of us can go out and get some. My wife warned me the premise was faulty. Turns out she was right. The caveats are as clear as the conclusions:

• Exercise might make you happy (or happiness might help you exercise).
• Improving diet might improve happiness (but diet research is all over the place, and frankly, stressing about how to eat doesn’t bring a lot of happiness).
• Time can make you happier than money (if you use the former well, and presuming you still have enough of the latter).
• Giving money away makes people feel good (but the research on this is really thin, and when people suddenly come into money, they get surprisingly stingy).
• And finally: Happiness is rather impossible to define.

I found few convincing scientific studies, new or old, that really say much definitive about what happiness really is, let alone how to become happier. The project was a failure. Well… not totally. By expanding…