[lx3459683]

If you want an average outcome, follow the average path. Having kids or getting married or staying in the same place all their life does not make people any happier. God knows I've seen plenty of people who were bitter about any combination of those choices.

If you want to actually live your life as a conscious being, stop looking at what other people are doing and decide what you want. It's scary and it's not for everyone.

[seventhtiger]

Everyone has a natural level of happiness that is extremely difficult to change permanently. The fact is some people just have an unhappier baseline than the rest, or a happier baseline. Circumstance will move you around your neutral happiness but over time you will always tend to go to that level. It's called the hedonistic treadmill.

The things that do affect your happiness in a big measureable way are whether or not you're poor. Being rich doesn't make you happier, but being poor absolutely makes you unhappier, so does being unhealthy and being lonely.

If you're not poor, healthy, and have human companionship there doesn't exist any external goal that will actually make you happier long term. So take what simple pleasures you get, enjoy accomplishing any goals you want, but never think some different career or object or hobby will make you happier. It won't.

[spacehome]

> Everyone has a natural level of happiness that is extremely difficult to change permanently.

I see this is true in today's world, but I don't think there's any evidence that this is a permanent state of affairs. I have a hope that there is a recipe for a permanent human elevation of mood that we just haven't unlocked yet.

[whamlastxmas]

You can use a lot of drugs. It drastically lowers how long you feel permanently happy (because you'll die quickly) but it's definitely a real fix.

[spacehome]

Yea, but I'm thinking of something that increases the integral of happiness over lifetime. Your solution doesn't quite get there.

[projektir]

This is not proven and will not be proven any time soon.

The hedonistic treadmill is trivial to dodge, but it does require resources.

[nnd]

How do you dodge the hedonistic treadmill?