The Happiness Project

10 Myths about Happiness—Which Do You Believe?

Every Wednesday is Tip Day.
This Wednesday: 10 widespread myths about happiness.

Each day for two weeks, I posted about 10 Happiness Myths. Today, for your reading convenience, I’m posting the entire list, with links.

No. 1: Happy people are annoying and stupid .

No. 2: Nothing changes a person’s happiness level much .

No. 3: Venting anger relieves it .

No. 4: You’ll be happier if you insist on “the best.”

No. 5: A “treat” will cheer you up .

No. 6: Money can’t buy happiness .

No. 7: Doing “random acts of kindness” brings happiness .

No. 8: You’ll be happy as soon as you …

No. 9: Spending some time alone will make you feel better .

No. 10: The biggest myth: It’s selfish to try to be happier .

Agree? Disagree? Am I missing an important myth?

* A kind reader send me the link to Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish , which features a very interesting U.S. map showing how happy each state is. I’m from Missouri, and I was surprised to see that it’s on the low end. New York is near the high end.

* I send out short monthly newsletters that highlight the best of the previous month’s posts to about 19,000 subscribers. If you’d like to sign up, click here or e-mail me at grubin, then the “at” sign, then gretchenrubin dot com. (sorry about that weird format–trying to to thwart spammers.) Just write “newsletter” in the subject line. It’s free.