why judging yourself into happiness won't work

however, a new study has found that those who judge or concern themselves with reaching a specific level of happiness on a regular basis could be doing themselves a disservice. as it turns out, the more you judge your current state of happiness, the harder it might be to actually feel happy within yourself and your life.

the research, published in the journal emotion and again by the american psychological association (apa), was drawn from three separate experiments conducted by the researchers working on the study. over 1,800 people participated and were tasked with comparing their level of happiness to how often they were focused on obtaining it.

searching for happiness

other studies that have assessed the search for happiness have also found it to be futile. the more people value constant feelings of happiness, the more likely they are to be disappointed during times of stress or hardship.

the study methods and results

expectations and judgements hold no place in “true” happiness

in the words of max black, one of the two main characters from the sitcom two broke girls , “it’s life; lower your expectations.” these study results show that this phrase, while meant for dark comic relief, holds some weight in the real-world search for life satisfaction and happiness.

these results show that feeling what you’re feeling – positive or negative – is the best route to happiness, even if it feels uncomfortable along the way.