Is Happiness Directly Related to Expectations?

Happiness is such a funny concept.  It is kind of one of those privileges afforded to our culture because {for the most part} most of our basic needs are met, and we can focus on achieving the ever-allusive “happiness.”  With that thought in mind, I ran across an article about happiness the other day that blew my mind.  I repeat:  Blew. My. Mind.  It suggested that happiness is directly related to our expectations.  It’s such a simple idea, but I guess I had never really thought about it in those terms.

Researchers on happiness {how can I get that job?} have found that happiness directly relates to our immediate expectations of the situation. If our expectations “aren’t bigger than the size of the payoff” we seem to pretty happy.  If we are disappointed by the outcome because it didn’t meet our expectations, then we are unhappy.  It’s basic happiness math.

It made me start thinking about all of the events, situations, etc. that I have been disappointed in during my life.  And yep, when I really think about it, they were disappointing because they did not live up to my expectations.  Had I not had such high expectations of them, I might’ve been able to enjoy them for what they were.  I wonder, does that mean that somewhere in our expectations lies the key to happiness.  I think so.  In my opinion, having realistic expectations of life and all of its events, relationships and situations would contribute to overall satisfaction in a major way.  Easier said than done, of course, but mind blowing, right?

What do you think, have your expectations affected your happiness?  Do you think consciously re-adjusting your expectations would lead to immediate improvements?

~Mavis