Defining Happiness Beyond Feeling

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Defining happiness requires more than just associating it with feelings of love or enjoyment. Scientists and clinicians emphasize the importance of clearly defining variables like happiness before discussing them. The misconception that happiness is solely a feeling is compared to mistaking the smell of turkey for the actual Thanksgiving dinner. It is crucial to understand that happiness is something universally desired yet often misunderstood.

We spend — on average — 90,000 hours of our life working. So it’s no wonder we want our jobs to bring us happiness. Yet, all too often, work doesn’t make us happy. Why is that? And is there anything we can do about it?

In this episode, we discuss just that.

You’ll hear from social scientist and New York Times bestselling author, Arthur Brooks (Harvard). Arthur talks with Dean of Harvard Medical School, Bernard S. Chang, about happiness, vocation, faith, and physician burnout. They discuss Arthur’s empirical research on happiness, explore the role of transcendence in a happier life, and how to best set expectations about the role of work in our lives.

This Forum was held at Harvard Medical School in February of 2024. Thank you to the Forum planning team at Harvard Medical School for making this event possible.

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