If you’re not happy right now, perhaps you think that you finally attain a state of bliss when you get the things you want. However, scientific data from psychological and neurological studies suggest that you can actually control your happiness. You can even learn how to feel great about your lot in life when things don’t go to place.
Harvard psychological Dan Gilbert is famous for giving the first ever TED talk, long before the series of talks became an internet phenomenon. In his groundbreaking “The Surprising Science of Happiness” he will explain the widespread problem of impact basis—the human tendency to overestimate how long you will feel a certain way after a key event. For example, you’re sure to have heard friends predict eternal misery after a breakup and yet found them to be fully functional less than a year later.
Gilbert combines these observations about impact bias with the concept of synthetic happiness—the kind of happiness that you can choose to “make” when you don’t get what you want. He challenges the assumption that synthetic happiness is of a lesser quality than “natural” happiness, and his talk will convince you that synthetic happiness is both real and profoundly worth having.
Armed with new awareness of your own ability to generate happiness in the face of adversity, you will develop an enhanced ability to experience contentment and satisfaction. After listening to Gilbert, you’ll never receive bad news in quite the same way again.
