✅ I think our best evidence suggests that happiness is a sort of default state that we’re in when our needs are being met and we aren’t worried for our survival. Happiness is the baseline, and our brain conjures up unhappiness to solve issues related to our current or future thriving. If we accept that present state immersion, mindfulness, flow, whatever you want to call it is our best way to achieve happiness, then the happiest life might not be a particularly memorable one. Find a routine you could do every day that immerses you in the present and gets you into flow, using the minimum amount of pharmaceutical, technological, or other tools as possible. Then, occasionally break that routine to create peak moments that can pay you happiness dividends for the rest of your life.

A repeatable, happy day for me consists of leisurely meals, writing, reading, physical activity, and leisure time. However, if this routine is followed for a whole year, the days would blend together and lack memorable events. While it would be a happy year, I feel a sense of sadness without significant anchors for the year. One of these anchors could be trips. But if I’m being honest, most of the time I spend related to traveling is less “happy” than my ideal day. The peaks are higher, sure. But dealing with airports, worse food, being out of my routine, etc. etc. often make the baseline lower. And while I often look forward to trips as they approach, I find myself looking forward to being home even more as they end. Trips can also be as much of an attempt to escape as alcohol and television. (View Highlight)