Psychology says the happiest people over 70 don't actually 'stay young' - they've learned to stop measuring their worth against a version of themselves that no longer exists - Silicon Canals

"The happiest people over 70 that I've encountered... have stopped treating happiness as a destination. They don't pursue it. They don't track it. They don't measure their days against some internal happiness scoreboard."

"In 2011, psychologist Iris Mauss at UC Berkeley published a landmark study... Participants who placed a high value on being happy actually reported lower well-being, less life satisfaction, and more symptoms of depression."

"The mechanism was disappointment. People who valued happiness set standards for how they should feel, then measured themselves against those standards and came up short."

"The monitoring kills the thing it's trying to measure. We go on holiday and check whether we're enjoying it enough... The pursuit itself created a gap between where they were and where they thought they should be."

Happiest individuals over 70 do not treat happiness as a goal to pursue or measure. Research shows that valuing happiness can lead to lower well-being and increased depression. The gap between expected and actual happiness creates disappointment. Many people constantly monitor their happiness, which detracts from their enjoyment. Older adults have learned to embrace life without the pressure of measuring happiness, allowing it to naturally occur.

Read at Silicon Canals