Stumbling on Happiness

Oh, it’s that old awareness and perspective thing coming back to haunt us all again.

So you want to have kids, yah? Parents beware for what you wish! Harvard researcher, Dr. Daniel Gilbert’s research shows that ‘people with young children living with them are the least happy of all.’ How is that for a Monday morning wake-up call?

Gilbert’s research goes on to show, however – and this is a big however – that it is critical that parents believe children will make them happy. That belief, no matter how unsubstantiated by evidence, allows parents to continually put forth the effort, energy, time and money needed to rear a child to adulthood.

Now here is the perspective changing part directly from the author: “As a result of that sacrifice, we love them all the more. We don’t value our children in spite of how difficult they are, we value our children because of how difficult they are.”

My Mom always said you appreciate the things you work hard to accomplish. Once again, Mom was right and she did not need any research to prove her intuition.

Thank you, Mom!
Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success™
http://www.dontdiebooks.com/
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess

Note: The quotes in this blog are taken directly from the October 2010 Monitor on Psychology article by Christopher Munsey.