Control = Happiness?
As a human child grows, it derives great pleasure from its explorations in control over its immediate environment. As children grow, they may display more or less of a desire to control their environment, due in part to the measure of control that they are given from an early age, genetics and observations of parental behavior.
Stemming from readings of a book called 'Stumbling on Happiness', by Daniel Gilbert, and subsequent conversations with my lovely girlfriend on the subject (she read it first), I've become intrigued by the idea that happiness is largely measured by the degree of control that we as human beings posses over our lives.
If I have more control over my life, will I be happier? Control over finances, health, locale, relationships etcetera?
Stemming from readings of a book called 'Stumbling on Happiness', by Daniel Gilbert, and subsequent conversations with my lovely girlfriend on the subject (she read it first), I've become intrigued by the idea that happiness is largely measured by the degree of control that we as human beings posses over our lives.
If I have more control over my life, will I be happier? Control over finances, health, locale, relationships etcetera?
posted by Q. at 2:45:00 PM
2 Comments:
I think that happiness would come from having the time to create a dent in the ever-growing stack of unread books mocking me from the top of the bookshelf. I haven't even gotten around to getting Blink or Tipping Point let alone reading them and I find out that there is a third one that I have to get. On a semi-related note, if you haven't read "Apathy and Other Small Victories" I highly recommend it. I just finished rereading it and it is still as hiliarious as it was a few months ago when I first read it.
Now that I actually think about it, I believe that is true. Control over the various factors in life equates (at least partially) to how much happiness one has. Maybe that's related to a sense of safety? If we have total control over things in our life, we feel safe - we know what's going to happen, and we can prepare for it.
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