Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We tend to think that if we're unhappy, it's because something bad has happened to us, or because we lack something we want. But research suggests that a lot of unhappiness comes from something we're doing to ourselves — constantly comparing our lives to the lives of others.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We tend to think that what we want will make us happy. But psychologists have found that we're remarkably bad at predicting what will actually bring us satisfaction. We imagine that major life events — a promotion, a new relationship, a bigger house — will transform our happiness, but their effects are often smaller and shorter-lived than we expect.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We want to get the thing we're comparing our life to, but when we get it, we start comparing ourselves to the next rung up the ladder. So there's this moving goalpost that keeps shifting higher and higher, and that's really the hedonic treadmill.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We think if we just get that next thing — the promotion, the relationship, the house — we'll finally be happy. But the research suggests that we're not very good at predicting what will make us happy, and we're especially bad at knowing how long that happiness will last.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

Most of us believe that we know what we want. We imagine that if we just got that thing — the job, the relationship, the house — we'd be happy. But research suggests that we're not very good at predicting what will make us happy, and that we often adapt to good things far more quickly than we expect.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We don't experience our lives in global terms. We don't think of ourselves as having a good life. We think of ourselves as having a good morning or a bad morning. And so the quality of your life is largely determined by the quality of your experiences, your moments, but the moments aren't equal.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We tend to think that if we just had a better job, a better house, a better partner, we'd finally be happy. But research suggests that we're not very good at predicting what will make us happy — and more importantly, we're not very good at understanding why we're unhappy in the first place.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We assume that if we just get that promotion, or find that perfect partner, or move to that new city, we'll finally be happy. But research suggests that we're wrong about what will make us happy, and we're also wrong about how long that happiness will last.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We assume that other people who are happy are in a fundamentally different situation than we are — that they have things we don't have, or they don't have problems that we do. But the research suggests that happy people have essentially found ways to make peace with the same kinds of problems and shortcomings that unhappy people struggle with.

Hidden Brain

Why Am I Unhappy?

We often imagine that feelings of unhappiness come from outside us — in our circumstances or the difficult people in our lives. But what if the forces that erode our happiness come from within?

TED Radio Hour

Less guilt, more joy: A new chapter for climate action

I was thinking how it's kind of a bummer that my life's work on happiness had no bearing whatsoever on what I believe is the most important existential challenge of our time. Then I started thinking about biking. So I bike to work because I arrive in a much better mood than if I drive my car. But of course, biking is also one of the most sustainable forms of transportation. And then it kind of dawned on me that in fact, so many of the things that we need to do as individuals and as societies in order to tackle climate change are also good for our happiness.

TED Radio Hour

Less guilt, more joy: A new chapter for climate action

I was biking to work. It was a sunny autumn day. I was enjoying my bike ride, but I was also thinking about climate change, as you do. And I was thinking how it's kind of a bummer that my life's work on happiness had no bearing whatsoever on what I believe is the most important existential challenge of our time.

The Prof G Pod

Why Young Men Choose to Be Alone

We are disconnecting ourselves from happiness when we disconnect ourselves from other people. I think we're locking ourselves out of real joy in a very finite life.

Book of the Day

'Big Fan' investigates fandom from darts and football to Taylor Swift

One of the key aspects of fandom is that we are risking a little bit of our emotional and psychological health on something over which we have no control and that there was it's a little bit of gambling in a way on our happiness and that's what makes it thrilling. It's also what makes it crushing and disappointing at times, but without that sense of powerlessness, you don't get the same roller coaster.

EconTalk

Making Your 80,000 Hours Count (with Benjamin Todd)

"Follow your passion" turns out to be a trap. Chasing a big paycheck barely moves the happiness needle. And being a doctor has a smaller impact than you might think, says Todd.

Semafor

The State of Happiness in 2026 | Semafor Events

Well, I'd have to say happiness. So that's why we do this. And at that time he was doing surveys where he would ask people just tell me how your life is going.

TED

1 Thing You Can Do Today to Be Happier | Sonja Lyubomirsky | TED

It dawned on me that almost all of the interventions that work to make us happier, they work precisely because they help us feel more connected to and loved by others.

TED

1 Thing You Can Do Today to Be Happier | Sonja Lyubomirsky | TED

The key to happiness is feeling connected and loved. And I know that sounds like a cliché, but many powerful ideas do once you distill them.