The James Swanwick Show

“Happiness comes from getting the right relationship between yourself and: Others, your work, and something larger than yourself.” - Jonathan Haidt (click to tweet) What is happiness? How do we achieve it? Are attractive people happier? Are rich people happier? Could plastic surgery make you happier? Should we seek the most momentary happiness possible, or is a happy and fulfilled life one that consists of ups and downs over the course of it? These are just a few of the questions I get to ask Dr. Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Happiness Hypothesis” on this episode. Many people confuse the state of happiness with a mood. The thought is that happiness is this momentary mood of joy that we feel, and often people spend all of their energy attempting to fill their lives with as much of that mood as possible, to attain the most happiness in their life possible. The truth, however, is more complex. As humans, we crave a storyline of attempting, failing, attempting again, and ultimately succeeding. That same storyli