Stumbling On Happiness

Stumbling On Happiness examines the capacity of our brains to fill in gaps and simulate experiences, shows how our lack of awareness of these powers sometimes leads us to wrong decisions, and how we can change our behavior to synthesize our own happiness.

Did you know you have a blind spot? It’s a certain area of your vision that’s basically blank – you can’t see what’s there, due to your nerve fibers blocking your retina where they leave the eye.

Why have you never noticed any black spots on photographs then?

Because your brain fills in the missing information.

It guesses what needs to be there and adds the remaining pieces to the image. If you stop to think for a second, you’ll notice that this means your brain completely invents a part of your vision and therefore your reality in any given moment.

Not only is this an incredible trick your brain plays on you, it does so all the time, and is often wrong.

For example your memories. You might be at a party and have the time of your life, but right before going home, someone throws up on your new shoes.

Chances are your brain won’t store this in your memory as the greatest night of all time, but exaggerate the bad part of the experience at the end, leaving you to remember it as a bad party.

Similarly, you only need to think about wanting to eat pizza at a new restaurant (which I do a lot), and your brain instantly conjures up the perfect experience, smell and taste in your head.

Naturally, you believe in this best-case scenario of the future and are disappointed at anything less than that, neglecting the millions of alternative scenarios – the place could have burned down for all you know.

Your brain is not so great at filling in those blanks, but it will keep trying, so just be aware of when it’s doing it.

Dang it! How could that coffee place raise the price again? We usually compare products based on prices we’re used to, so if your espresso now costs $1 instead of $0.50, you’re annoyed and think it’s a rip-off. Instead of comparing it to previous prices or other coffee, try thinking about what you could get for the money elsewhere. Once you realize that $1 won’t even buy you a carrot, maybe a single sock, and 10 minutes of parking tops, the espresso will seem like a much better deal, in spite of the higher price. Similarly, people will rather buy a $500 TV that was reduced from $600, instead of getting the same TV for $400, if the price went up from $300.…