The Dalai Lama says “All beings want to be happy” – and that is so true because when you look at anything you do in life – this is the fundamental reason behind why you do it. We all try to “win” at life because when we win, (in career, relationship, social etc) then we feel happy. Unfortunately we also lose a lot of the time – which results in a roll-a-coaster ride around a base line level of happiness.

happiness baseline

 

To reinforce this idea, a study in 1978 showed that even after big events like winning a lottery or becoming paraplegic we still eventually go back to that same baseline level of happiness. So whilst most of us are working hard to win that lottery over and over again in each area of our life – perhaps the real question we should be asking is how do we raise the base-line? That way, even after bad events in our life we will automatically come back to a happy state.