Sonja Lyubomirsky's childhood experiences shaped her understanding of happiness, especially witnessing her mother’s profound unhappiness after emigrating to the U.S. from Russia. Her mother, an experienced literature teacher, struggled to adapt to her new life and job, which fueled Sonja's curiosity about happiness itself. Despite historical views that happiness was a random incident of genetics or fate, her journey through academia, particularly in psychology, led her to explore how happiness can be intentionally cultivated and understood through various influences beyond just personal circumstances.
Lyubomirsky reflects on her mother's profound unhappiness after emigrating to America, questioning the nature of happiness itself and its relation to life circumstances and culture.
The prevailing belief among psychologists in prior decades suggested happiness was largely beyond individual control, dictated by genetic and circumstantial factors rather than intentional pursuit.
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