Morgan Housel

This is great.

And I think for short periods of time, it can do this.

Happiness is always a fleeting emotion.

Like most people are rarely happy for more than a couple minutes at a time.

i think it's very similar to humor where if i tell you a very funny joke you don't laugh for 10 years you laugh for a couple minutes humor is a fleeting emotion and happiness is the same most people you have moments of it and you can situate your life so maybe you have more moments of it than others and more than you used to but it's momentary and so i think what people actually want to get to what they aspire to whether they know it or not is contentment

which is not happiness.

It's a different emotion.

You'd want to get to a point where you're just like, I'm good.

I'm very grateful for everything that I have.

And I have everything that I need and most of what I want.

And I'm totally cool with that.

And if there's more to come above this, that's the cherry on top.

But I'm really cool here.

I'm great right here.

And I think most people can realize that with a lot of work and constant upkeep, you can get to that level at a lower income than you think.

Yeah.

And I think it's when you daydream about

having more success or more money or more stuff.

When you do that daydream and it feels good, you're like, oh, if only I had that house, if only I had that car, if only I had this income.

By and large, what you are doing is imagining yourself having those things and being totally content with them.