When are we happiest?

It isn’t when we’re trying to be happy, or when we’re doing something because we think it will make us happy. If anything, these happiest moments come when we aren’t thinking about ourselves at all.

They’re when an incredible event steals our attention. Or when we’re so present in an activity, such as a social gathering or a game, that we’re completely wrapped up in the task at hand. Our attention couldn’t be further than from ourselves, and our own level of happiness.

So the paradox, it seems, is that happiness cannot be found by looking for it. No matter how much we try to focus on ourselves and do things to make ourselves happier, we won’t reach our goal. That’s not the way we’re built.

Happiness then, as Adam Robinson has summarized, comes from our attention being placed on one of two things: the task at hand or others.

Rather than spending so much time thinking about ourselves, maybe it’s time to focus our attention outwards and see what follows.

-Brandon