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I love that *,Daniel Gilbert is the professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of Stumbling on Happiness,Professor Gilbert, good morning to you,can I call you Dan?

I appreciate it.

I wanna ask you,everybody thinks, for most people think I just lose some weight or I get a new job like I did ,or I meet somebody and fall in love that I'm gonna find happiness.yet Happiness seems to fade.Why are we so lousy, at predicting what is gonna make us happy?

That's a great question one of the economists, psychologists and New York's scientists have been thinking about now for over a decade.You know those things do make you happy, they just don't make you happy for as long as you anticipate.The brain is designed to responde to changes,so the moment you change from somebody who doesn't own a comfortable to somebody who does, you do feel happy.It's that moment of transition that you're imaginig when you think the comfortable will make you happy, it does,but not for a long time.We fail to think about how happiness will wear,how we will wear in the long way.

So in a few months, I'm gonna be miserable?
Well I wouldn't say miserable but the exhilaration of the hosting the today show will become more ordinary,the exordinary becomes ordinary as things become familiar and our emotinal reactions fade.

And you said in your book that actually happiness is a place you visit, it's not a place you stay,why is that?

Well you know,happiness is noun,so we make a mistake in thinking of it like an object,it is a toaster, once I can get it then it's mine, I get to keep it.Happiness is a temporary state that we can visit ,we can go there more ofter,if we are smart about it,but it's not a place we can stay.

And perhaps may be a place we should stay?

Well certainly not a place we should stay. Think about what the emotions are for? Why is Nature designed us to even have them? Emotions are signals,they are your brain's wave of telling you when you're doing something right and something wrong for your own survival.Emotions are a compass, What a good compass ,when we stuck on North,it doen's tell you what to do next.

On the other hand, we want some tips that will help us find the happiness when we can't. And you study the science of happiness,you've concluded that the great source of happiness comes from our relationships with friends and family. That sounds so obvious.

It does sound obvious,but tips would be obvious enough more people would be happy,wouldn't they? It is indeed the case.We're social mammals,most of our happiness comes from our interactions and our relationships with other people.I often ask people if you could lose your friends or your eyesight,which would you choose? And they at least pause for a moment to think about it,that's no brainer.Blind people are ever as happy as sighted people, but lonely people are not as happy as people with friends.

And you say forget about the big events,it's the small moment that counts.

Well it turns out that is the number of good things happened in the day that predicts your happiness,not the size of those good things.But indeed, for me ,I walk to work and walk back from work,and neither these things make me evoked, but it happens reliably twice every day.Five days a week,that's a source of happiness.

You also suggest that it's important to value your experiences of over objects.

This is true. You know,a economist would say if money doesn't make you happy,you're spending it wrong.And indeed that's some wisdom toward that.
Because most people think the car is a prudent investment say that on vacation ,and object lasts their Ford has this durable power,we should invest in these kind of things.It turns out not to be true.Experiences tend to create more happiness than objects all other things being equal.If objects have this annoying property of hanging around the driveway utill they start to disappoint us, vacations leave nothing good happy memories.

And finally you suggest we shouldn't sweat every decision that no matter which way we flip the coin, it will work out ok in the end.It's a little of being happy, self-delustion,do you think,convincing ourselves?

Well I'm not gonna say self-delusion,but certainly self-generated,we do know from a lot of researches that people tend to be pretty happy no matter which way they decide when they're making decisions. Decisions look very important when you're in the act of choosing, but once having chosen, the two alternatives between which you've choosing tend to come together.

Are you happy today?

Oh, I'm very happy to..

Good I'm very happy today too.

Good,we must be doing the right thing.

Nice to meet you ,Daniel.Thank you so much.
If you like to learn more about happiness, just go to our website at Today.MSNBC.com

“most people think the car is a prudent investment say that on vacation ,and object lasts their Ford has this durable power,we should invest in these kind of things.It turns out not to be true.Experiences tend to create more happiness than objects all other things being equal”
I like this sentence,