What are the things that make you happy and what are those that make you unhappy? There are two kinds of happiness -

1. Natural happiness. Eg You are naturally happy when you get a promotion at your office in recognition of your dedication, loyalty and  hard work.
2. Synthesized happiness. Eg A disgraced politician saying he is so much better off physically, financially, mentally and in almost every way.

Daniel Gilbert, who is a Professor at the Harvard School of Psychology says both these forms of happiness are equally valid, and they provide an equal degree of personal well being.

Concluding a talk given at TED, this is what he states – and I quote :

When our ambition is bounded, it leads us to work joyfully. When our ambition is unbounded, it leads us to lie, cheat, to steal, to hurt others, to sacrifice things of real value.

When our fears are bounded, we are prudent, we are cautious and we are thoughtful. When our fears are unbounded and over blown, we are reckless and cowardly.

Our longings and our worries are both to some degree over blown because we have within us the capacity to manufacture the very comodity we are constantly chasing when we choose experience.

Watch the  fascinating talk he gave at TED – all of 20 minutes but worth every second of it.