When Optimism Rhymes with Happiness

The present appears to contain all the ingredients necessary for happiness. Our society certainly isn't perfect. On the other hand, it's the only one that we have and we have no choice but to adjust to it. Of course, we can attempt to change it or to make that little part of it that we occupy more compatible with our individual values. Overall, however, society remains fairly homogeneous, with characteristics that change rather slowly.

As a result, people who have an easier time accommodating to life today and those who do not agree with the statement that modern society makes it more difficult to achieve happiness have higher-then-average RHI values. The same holds true for their differential between improvement and deterioration of their state or happiness last year.

The future's attraction—while much less harmful to happiness than nostalgia for the past—is not strong enough to displace the value of the present. This is attested to by the fact that respondents who are the most satisfied with their lives now also have the highest RHI (78.80).

These observations support the theory advocated by Abraham Maslow about happiness. Maslow claimed that happiness was primarily a question of aptitude related, among other things, to an individual's ability to accept or refuse life as it presented itself. Moreover, this ability to adapt varies from one person to the next. Consequently, an individual with this aptitude would be more predisposed towards happiness.

And where do you fit in? What is your capacity to adapt to life today?