The casual influence of happiness on future outcomes

Most people have a set range for their resting state of happiness, to which they eventually return regardless of what life events they encounter.

However, the centre of gravity can shift. 

You do not have to be rich to control where you pay attention. 

The optimists of the world tend not to be hanging out on their couches, staring at their half-filled glasses. Instead, they're starting non-profits or becoming teachers. They acknowledge that there are objective disadvantages b...

If you diagnose yourself as an optimist, you might want to ensure you are at least noticing when the glass is half-full and for whom the glass is half-full, who doesn't have a glass at all, and who has two glasses. 

For pessimists, notice your attention. Consider which part of the picture y...

We all know what it's like to feel bad, and we all want to feel good more than we feel bad.

For many philosophers and individuals in general, optimism/joy is the ultimate pursuit. However, being always positive does not mean being blind to real concerns. We can experience positive and negat...

• If you seem too happy, it may be an indication to others that you are low on empathy.
•  You may be perceived by others as naive and insensitive to people who are not in a very good mood at the time. 
• Dispositional optimistic people tend to be biased to only pay attention to th...

Well into older adulthood, adults are happier than they were when they were younger. Research suggests that's because older adults tend to selectively look at the pretty picture and ignore the ugly picture.

This attentional engine that filters out reality and pushes feelings around atte...

The correlation between positive and negative emotions is only -0.3, meaning if being happy was the opposite of being unhappy, you would see a correlation of -1. So it suggests that people are fully capable of feeling some happy emotions, some negative feelings and mixed emotions. 

Studies ...

Hypomania is an extreme form of happiness. When it reaches a pathological level of happiness, you're not only feeling on top of the world, but therapists also think it's dysfunctional.

Hypomanic means someone has a complete lack of impulse control. You talk without stopping in a way that pe...