How positive thinking gets in the way of goal attainment

After more than 2 decades of dealing with Balance and "homeostasis", I really enjoyed this article. Thank you Doug for sharing it

I didn't know you were involved in "Happier"! Personally, I've always valued realism, seeing criticism as the way to improvement, and improvement the way to satisfaction. The real key, I think, is balance. But what the idea of "Happier" makes me think of, is a time when I was very young and my mother described heaven to me... She said it was this wonderful place where everything was always perfect. My response to her was: That sounds boring! Is there anything other than heaven or hell? (Gotta love the honesty of a child, right?) Over the years, I continued to try to explain this view to her, which I continued to hold. The more I tried to explain that you don't appreciate a good day until you have had a bad one; that you don't appreciate the mountain peak until you've struggled to get there; that you don't know how wonderful ice cream is until you've gone without; the more angry my mother got. Finally, I stopped talking about that view, even though I secretly always worried about it. Being bored to death has an end, after all. But being bored for eternity? I couldn't imagine tolerating that. So, as an adult, I talked with my pastor about this. He quoted scripture that talks about the tears being wiped from our eyes and said if we're crying, then clearly it's not always perfect, not even in heaven. Clearly there's something wrong with me when what made me happy was to learn I can be sad in heaven.

Robb - Thanks for the kind words - I miss the happier.com team!!

Thanks, Guy!