Being Happy

Some strengths – like hope, gratitude, love, and zest – have been found to be directly associated with life satisfaction, but researchers have discovered a number of factors involving strengths that lead to a happier life

It’s true that some people who have many interests and can’t decide among them will delay commitment and may drift. But sometimes what looks like drift may end up being a very constructive process of discovering what really fits for you. In many cases just diving in before you’re 100% sure is a good way to find out whether the actual day-to-day activity in a certain job or career really suits you.

Not being able to decide what kind of work you really want to do is a particularly hard issue to study, even harder than most issues in scientific psychology, which are almost always complex and elusive.

Decades ago, psychology was heavy on theory and light on solid evidence. That has changed, and there are thousands of people who understand some important body of scientific psychological research. This research gives us insights into the human situation just like any body of scientific knowledge does about its subject matter. 

There is also scientific psychological research that has tested whether some of these insights actually work when implemented in the real world. In any area that can be studied scientifically, you’re a lot better off if you know what the science says – certainly far better than just using the subjective analysis of your personal life experience alone