Of expectations and formulas for happiness

Something that i read recently (to be more accurate, 1 minute ago) 'stimulated' my very empty thinking cap.

You know the way we hear a lot of

Don't expect anything so that you won't be disappointed.

And this is what I thought was really cool :) :-

To tell you the truth I think that quote is utter bullshit.And I'll tell you why.We NEED expectation in our daily lives.Without expectation,there can be no excitement.Without excitement,everybody will just be jaded and emotionless.Why not you just splash grey paint on the world and drown yourself in morphine,since you want to be so void of emotion.

-jotted by the one and only Farhan

tellmewhentowoah.blogspot.com

Okay, it's no that bad, yeah.

But think about it. How on earth do you expect one to live without expectations?

Even the daft-est person expects something, just that they expect daft things, of course.

I think it's pretty impossible to live trans expectations. How do you live, not expecting something? It'll be like living in an empty nutshell.. a small, black, damp, mind-cramping one, at that.

If you don't expect anything, it'll be akin to not dreaming, not hoping for something to happen. Even the most faithful people expect something .

Now that we're in the heat of this topic, the unquotable quote above , is in other words, one of the feeble attempts to come up with a formula in the pursuit of happiness. Indirectly.

But some 'ingenious' fellows came up with a so-called formulae for happiness, and made it public. Ever heard of it?

Pleasure + engagement + meaning = happiness.

This is one of them.

Another one :

Happiness = P + (5xE) + (3xH)

P stands for Personal Characteristics, including outlook on life, adaptability and resilience.
E stands for Existence and relates to health, financial stability and friendships.
And H represents Higher Order needs, and covers self-esteem, expectations, ambitions and sense of humour.
Sound complicated?

Apparently the formula was worked out by psychologists after interviews with more than 1,000 people.

So do you still belive in the formulas that scientists and researchers have came up with?

There are many more, by the way. Not only these two.

It's like they 'chi bao tai de kong'

(direct translation: too much free time after having their meal)

Now, back to the expectations thing.

So I don't think the quote should go: "Don't expect anything-"

more like:

"Lower your expectations-"

But then that won't be right anymore. Because if you lower your expectations, this means that you already know your initial 'level' of expectation. So you'll still be disappointed if the expected result doesn't come out because in your subconscious mind, you'll still be clinging on to the first expectation!

So what is the formula of happiness?

In my opinion-as if it weren't clear already- is that there simply isn't one.

Most people probably don't know what happiness is, they think happiness is perhaps having lots of money or a big car, or a big house. But people who have all these things are not necessarily happier than people who just enjoy their life.

We tend to be very obsessed with what is wrong, what is missing and what we have not got, rather than focusing on what we want and getting it. It would be nice to just enjoy your life, because life is a bit short.

Pete Cohen, who came up with the mathematics-like equation above(the PEH one), said:

Four in ten men said sex made them happy, and three in ten said a victory by a favourite sports team.
For seven in ten women happiness was related to being with family, and one in four said losing weight.
Romance featured higher for men than women. So did a pay rise and a hobby they enjoyed.
Women were more likely to cite sunny weather.

So does this mean we can come up with a formula with this
result?

C.P Snow once said:

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase:if you pursue happiness,
you'll never find it.

We all can be happy in a heartbeat if we want to. Period.

Or rather,

If you want to be happy,be.

-Leo Tolstoy

And..

Happiness is never stopping to think if you are.

So even if happiness forgets you for a bit, never completely forget about it.

God Bless You~

Now, I'll seat back, go finish that bertimbun-timbun truckloads of homework,

and hope that people actually read this thing. :

;D