What We Know Now About How to Be Happy - Alice G. Walton - Health - The Atlantic: "People whose goals involved personal growth and the community were much happier than people who sought money or fame. This sounds a lot like the hedonic/ eudaimonic divide.
"By attaining the 'American Dream goals,' [big house, fancy car, designer clothes]" said the study's author Edward Deci, "you are actually feeling less satisfied in the need for autonomy and feeling effective in the world [because you are dependent on external measures outside your direct control], and that leads to more ill−being." So it seems like going after the material goods that are so appealing - a nice house, car, or bottle of wine - may actually make us more psychologically impoverished than the "larger" goals, like personal growth and self-satisfaction. This study underlines the divide between what we may think makes us happy and what actually makes us happy - and, by extension, healthy. "
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