In this Ted Talk, psychologist Dan Gilbert talks about feeling happy even when things don’t go as planned and teaches us how we do it by using our  “psychological immune system,” or our ability to make happiness.

In explaining how we synthesize happiness, he shows us how “impact bias” makes us believe different outcomes are more different than they are.  Ponder this. One year out, Paraplegics and lottery winners have the same amount of happiness.

Curious?  This video runs about twenty minutes. Dive in. You’ll laugh and you’ll learn how we are built for happiness even when we are stuck. On a mobile device? Watch Dan’s Ted Talk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html