MIKE EVANS: Hi. I'm Dr. Mike Evans, and this is a short whiteboard on happiness. It's kind of a crazy topic, and the philosopher in me feels the more we try and make it a formula, the farther away we'll get. It's also likely we all have different meanings for happiness-- pleasure, being engaged, life satisfaction. In medicine, we call it subjective well-being, with many domains-- work, family, friends, spiritual, contentment, control. So I'll leave it to you to know what happiness means to you, but I do think the science of happiness comes with some useful lessons. 

First is what predicts it? Well, the research points to a lot of factors but three big picture players. First are your genes, your temperament or personality. Second are your life circumstances, things like wealth, where you live, health. Third are your life choices and behaviors. 

So of these three players, which is the most important? Dr. Sonia Lyubomirsky, a University of California professor, has tried to answer this question. And I think she will say these are very approximate, but about half is predicted by your genes, 40% by your life choices, and only 10% by your life circumstances. So this is interesting. I mean, I do think there is a line in the sand. 

So, for example, lifting people out of poverty would give a lasting bump in well-being. But for most, we think, if I just had that new car or higher salary, bigger house, new lover/partner, I would be so much happier. But the research says that, sure, there is a boost with a new car, a new hockey stick, a new marriage. But after time-- so with a car, this might be a few months, and the generally accepted time with a marriage is about 2 years-- the new becomes the norm and our happiness quotient drops back to what it was. 

The fancy name for this is hedonic adaptation. But perhaps the observation is that happiness doesn't come from getting something we don't have but rather from recognizing and appreciating what we do have. Or that happiness is best pursued by extracting the most possible from the present before turning one's attention to the future. Some would call this mindfulness or living in the moment. 

The second big lesson is about your life choices. The good news is they are mostly in our control and overlapping. So expressing gratitude, being more forgiving, meditation and mindfulness, exercise, investing in quality relationships, kindness, altruism and doing things for others, compassion. having good flow, where you have a kind of spontaneous joy from being fully absorbed in a task, minimizing thinking traps that make us feel bad about ourselves. All of these can work with our factory settings to increase happiness levels. 

And don't underestimate their effects. Let's take one, having good relationships. The Grant and Glueck cohort trials have been following two groups of men, one advantaged and one disadvantaged, for over 75 years. And when they look to see what most predicted being a healthy, happy octogenarian, well, it wasn't middle-aged cholesterol. It was middle-aged satisfying connectedness to family, friends, and community. And there are many nuances we are just figuring out. 

- Ha ha. 

MIKE EVANS: For instance, dosage. Dr. Lyubomirsky showed in a small trial about counting your blessings, where you list what I am grateful for, helped when it was done once a week, but not so much three times a week. So in the end, I think, sure, if you want to buy something cool, go for it. It might even give you a short-term bump in well-being. 

But maybe also consider investing in a few things that have a longer-term effect, a happiness portfolio, if you will. You may have a set point, but just like your risk of heart disease, you can alter this a lot by doing things differently. Hopefully, this helps. I'm grateful that you listened and watched. See? I feel better already.