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1-Page Summary of Stumbling On Happiness
“Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow”
Humans are the only creatures that plan for the future. Animals such as squirrels and rats bury nuts in anticipation of winter, but they’re following a survival script hard-wired into their brains. Only humans can imagine something that doesn’t exist in the present. In fact, one philosopher called the human brain an “anticipation machine.” Mature humans understand what it means to think about things later on.
Research shows that people spend 12% of their time thinking about the future. This is because they need to feel in control, and therefore have an effect on the world around them. Babies enjoy knocking over piles of blocks because it gives them a sense of power and control over their environment. Elderly people become depressed when they cannot care for themselves, which is why it’s important to give elderly people tasks or responsibilities that will make them feel needed in society.
People have different experiences and interpret them based on their own situations. However, happiness is an abstract concept that’s hard to define. It’s a subjective emotion that can’t be measured objectively or compared across people. Although it’s impossible to know whether your definition of happiness matches someone else’s, you can still point out things in the environment that make you happy and study how the brain works when people are experiencing this emotion.
People are bad at predicting their own future happiness. They use their imaginations to predict how happy they’ll be in the future, but that’s a terrible way to plan for happiness because of three reasons:
“Reality” and “Present Day Truth”
“Self-justification”
“Realism”
When people plan for the future, they use their imaginations to accomplish two goals: 1. Foresee the future – “I’ll live year-round in Miami” and 2. Change it – “My life will be better if I move to Miami.”
- If you want to feel a certain way about something, imagine how it will make you feel. For example, if you’re going to the beach every day, tell yourself that “I’ll love going to the beach every day.” However, your imagination may not be as good at predicting what actually happens. This is due primarily to inherent problems with human memory and perception.
Memories aren’t always accurate. The brain has to store so many memories that it must use shortcuts—which are sometimes inaccurate. It stores only a portion of an event, and then fills in the blanks with what seems like a real memory but isn’t.
Perception is the way we think about our world. It’s how we take in information and interpret it in order to understand what’s happening around us. Our brain combines sensory stimuli with emotions, thoughts and beliefs to create perceptions of reality. In fact, sometimes the feelings come before the perception — a counterintuitive idea that can be explained by evolution: We need to respond quickly when danger is near; it doesn’t matter if you’re wrong about what caused your fear or anxiety. For example, researchers had one woman approach men as they were crossing a bridge and ask them for their phone numbers after she asked them questions about her survey. Another group was approached on another day but after they’d crossed the same bridge (but weren’t scared). The men who were scared gave out their number more often than those who weren’t scared — even though there was no difference between which group actually got approached by women!
In addition, the brain fills in details that aren’t there. For example, people don’t experience a black hole in their field of vision because the brain creates an image to fill it. People don’t see reality; they interpret what they see and hear. The brain is always creating its own version of reality.
