2013年7月3日 星期三

Mental Capital and the Set Point of Happiness

I was on the Backchat program at RTHK this morning.  The host mentioned that personality might determine a person's happiness.  Very true.  However, personality is not altogether inborn and immutable.  Personality is grounded on the accumulation of experiences and mental habits.  Accumulating positive mental capital through good mental habits is the pathway to happiness. 

Because mental capital does not change overnight, so it is fairly accurate to say that in the short run it is more or less fixed and that happiness would tend to gravitate toward the "set point" after temporary deviations.  But the "set point" will rise as mental capital accumulates and as a personality favorable to the cultivation of happiness forms.