Yes, it's true: We are clueless about what makes us happy. That's not my idea, it's the claim of Yale University psychology professor Laurie Santos.
In addition to being a psychology professor at Yale, Santos is
also the host of The Happiness Lab podcast. The podcast is based on Santos’ class at Yale: “Psychology and the Good Life,” the most popular undergraduate course ever offered there.
Santos has some stern wisdom for students who take this class. It should come as no surprise to us -- these are themes we've been talking about in various ways in Renewed Man all throughout the program.
In an article in Faith and Leadership journal, Kelly Ryan describes her experience, and insights,
after taking Santos' course on Psychology and the Good Life. Here's how she puts it:
After taking a baseline happiness survey, more than 3 million classmates and I have explored the kinds of things we think will make us happier — things like a good job, more money, a perfect body — only to discover that we are
completely wrong about what will actually improve our state of mind.
Santos blames this “miswanting” on what she charmingly calls “annoying features of the mind.” To put it bluntly, she says, “You are clueless about what is going to make you happy.”
It's a good thing to keep in mind. Beware of the danger of "miswanting." If we are clueless in our assumptions about what we think is going to make us happy, then what should we do?
This is the key -- and we won't get to this place
unless and until we really accept our propensity to "miswant." What will make us truly happy? What will fill our lives with meaning?
Instead of trusting our broken instincts, we need to listen to wise people, and especially to the wisdom found in Scripture. Instead of trusting our instincts, we need to learn from those
who've reflected deeply on these issues, and heard from God about them.
Source: This article comes from an article in Faith and Leadership: WOOPing a meaningful Lent: Seeking joy through changing behaviors.