The happiness trap

This is a summary of the introduction of ‘The Happiness Trap’ by Russ Harris, which I will be exploring further in the upcoming days!

We all know that life is full of happiness and sorrow. Yet very few of us seem to be able to accept, and to live this reality. Our pursuit of happiness leads only to further despair, we are caught in a happiness trap. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) contains the knowledge and skills to escape this trap.

Our brains are hard-wired for worrying. Historically, the person that worried most (foresaw the most possible danger) would survive. As a result, we all spend a lot of time worrying about things that, more often than not, never happen.

In a similar sense, we have a strong biologically driven desire to ‘belong.’ To grasp this, we compare ourselves to others, or idealised versions of ourselves. Unfortunately, the digital age leaves us with a lot of (unfavourable) comparing to do.

In short: we are hardwired for psychological suffering. And to make matters worse, common beliefs about a ‘way out’ are inaccurate, misleading, or false.

  1. We believe that happiness is our natural state. In reality, we move through an endless spectrum of emotions. Love, joy and curiosity, are as normal as sadness, anger, and fear. From this false belief follows the next, namely that we believe that;
  2. when you are not happy, there is something wrong (with you). We assume that psychological suffering is abnormal. When we experience a negative emotion, we are ashamed about it and criticise ourselves for being weak or weird.

Along with these myths, there are two distinct definitions of what happiness actually entails:

  1. Happiness as a good-feeling: a pleasurable feeling of joy, gladness, or contentment. Hedemonia entails living life in pursuit of these feelings.
  2. Happiness as the experience of living a rich and meaningful life: clarifying what we stand for and acting accordingly. Eudemonia not some fleeting feeling but a powerful sense of a life well lived.

We cannot escape pain and fear, but we can learn to handle it much better. We can learn to “unhook” from it, rise above it, and create a life worth living, a life of Eudemonia. This book is here to teach you these things.

LinkedIn
X
Facebook

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search
PAGE CONTENTS

    LATEST POSTS & ARTICLES