Happiness Is A Choice You Make

“Happiness is a choice” I would often hear this whenever I am having a bad day. I thought this only meant that I should look on the brighter side of the conflict. However, after watching a Ted Talk by Dan Gilbert. I now understand that happiness can literally be created. Now that phrase makes a lot more sense than it used to.  Nevertheless, “synthetic” happiness sounds very fake to me. If I had asked someone how they felt and the response I got was, I’m fine I’m making myself happy, I would be skeptical about how happy they actually are. In fact, I would think that they are barely holding up. Fortunately, this idea of mine got quickly disproven as I continued to watch the video.

Gilbert tackled my thought right after I had my suspicions. He had said that the synthesized happiness was just as valuable as happiness obtained in any other way. He also gave me a bunch of examples in which people where put in adversities yet seemed to be un regretful. For example, Moreese Bickham spent 37 years in Louisiana State Penitentiary for a crime he didn't comit. However, when he was freed he had said "I don't have one minutes regret. It was a glorious experience." This both surprised me and made me curious. If it is just as effective why do we not know much about this concept. It’s not like this is a new discovery. The actual Ted Talk has been on YouTube for 10 years. Once more my question was answered as I dived deeper into the video. According to, Gilbert if we, as a society, are wired into believing that happiness must be earned and that we can’t create it we’ll more likely spend money. CAPITALISM, It truly has its own ways of attracting money. Even though I don’t fully understand the concept of creating me own happiness, I’ll try to do it. This way I can know for sure how effective it truly is and how it’s actually implemented.