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Happiness might not come from knowing everything!
I’m in the middle of reading some fascinating neuroscientific research that among other things, is trying to identify the areas of the brain that underlie happiness and satisfaction. I won’t bore you with all the details but in brief, these scientists are studying an area of the brain called the striatum along with levels of a neurotransmitter called dopamine.
In short, one of the most thought provoking findings is that we seem to gain more satisfaction from unpredictable events than from predictable ones.
This is interesting as many people picture happiness as something in which all is known, all is good and all is peaceful. In reality, based on the findings of this valid and reliable research, happiness may well stem more novelty and challenge.
I’ve no doubt that for me, satisfaction frequently comes from learning new things and from challenging myself (as opposed to doing something with which I’m very familiar). What about you…any thoughts?
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on Monday, May 22nd, 2006 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Happiness News.
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May 23rd, 2006 at 11:10 pm
[…] at there was more that they needed to be completely happy. The Happiness Institute has a post that says to know everyth […]
May 26th, 2006 at 9:11 am
I agree that novelty and challenge are essential to happiness. That is why so many people become unhappy at work - they end up doing the same tasks over and over. Unfortunately, most jobs are designed with efficiency in mind and not novelty or challenge.
May 26th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Couldn’t agree more. It doesn’t need to be an occuation that we are passionate about, but one that is challenging (but not too much so we get some satisfaction), that’s all mind absorbing and that’s creative to some degree. We may not notice at the time because we’re all caught up in the activity, but it’s afterwards when we reflect back and realise that we were really happy doing that! Then the good feeling extends beyond the activity into the rest of the day and we’ll be looking forward to doing it again or something similar. I blogged on this just the other day. See my post ‘The Great Escape’on 22 May.
Noel Kingsley
July 17th, 2006 at 12:25 am
I agree to an extent. It is true that novelty and change are great prompts for acquiring a sense of adventure and/or achievement. However, too much change without periods of stability in between can be wearing and frustrating. Anyone who has been in a workplace undergoing rapid and unending change for no apparent gain, and which possibly ends in job loss and/or close of business would know what I mean. I would think that a balance between periods of change and periods of stability is better than just having one or the other all the time. I agree that too much stability is dull; but too much change is bad too.