I'm really enjoying Sonja Lyubomirsky's book The How of Happiness, but I can't help but wonder if there should also be The Why of Happiness. This kind of book would draw more from philosophy.

20th Century philosopher Robert Nozick discussed in The Examined Life the "brain-in-the-vat" problem as it relates to happiness. The problem is basically, "Why wouldn't you want to be just a brain in a vat who lives in an virtual Garden of Eden?" Nozick makes the case for the "reality principle" in that it's not just the felt qualities of happiness that matter to us, but the actual reality of happiness. The source of our happiness is just as important as being happy itself. If we believe that we're just getting an artificial high that makes us feel happy, smile a lot, etc., that may not really matter to us.

My personal experience corroborates this. After reading Martin Seligman's Authentic Happiness in 2004, I launched myself on my own personal happiness project. The first thing I did was get over my hang ups about happiness. I told myself that, "No, happiness IS important, and make that a top priority." And then I measured my happiness levels every week, making all sorts of charts and line graphs from the data, methodically working to raise my scores. I changed my life completely in order to support the project, changing my work, my love life, etc. But I got to the point where my scores on paper were really high, but I hated the whole thing and myself. At the end of two months, I said, "Screw happiness, this stinks!" And I just ditched the whole thing.

I know that if I meditated more, I would be happier. But I would soon stop. Because the benefits to my well-being from meditation don't matter to me. I should know because I've disciplined myself to meditate and I do notice the lift, but I also notice my apathy toward the process.

Anyway, I should really wait till I finish the rest of The How of Happiness before I make a full comment on it—research is research and is hard to dispute. Sonja also emphasizes that it's important to tailor your own happiness program to suit your personality and temperament.