Category Archives: Happiness

Arthur C. Brooks: “Three Equations for a Happy Life”

The Three Equations for a Happy Life, Even During a Pandemic” in “The Atlantic.” I generally don’t like his work as he is a  religious and political ideologue. He was president for a decade of the ultra-conservative American Enterprise Institute, and he was converted to Catholicism after he believed the Virgin Mary appeared to him. I’m not kidding. Continue reading Arthur C. Brooks: “Three Equations for a Happy Life”

Happiness and the Meaning of Life


Happiness and meaning while connected, don’t seem to be the same thing. We can imagine a paradigmatic meaningful life that is unhappy and vice versa. For example, one might seek truth, do good things, or produce beauty—paradigms of meaningful lives—and still be unhappy. Or one might have health, wealth, friends, and knowledge—things associated with happy lives—and yet live a meaningless life, Continue reading Happiness and the Meaning of Life

Summary of the Harvard Grant Study: Triumphs of Experience

A Harvard study followed 268 undergraduates from the classes of 1938-1940 for 75 years, regularly collecting data on various aspects of their lives. The findings were reported in a recent book by the Harvard psychiatrist George Vaillant: Continue reading Summary of the Harvard Grant Study: Triumphs of Experience