There's more to life than being happy - Emily Smith

I used to think the whole purpose of life was pursuing happiness. Everyone said the path to happiness was success, so I searched for that ideal job, that perfect boyfriend, that beautiful apartment. But instead of ever feeling fulfilled, I felt anxious and adrift. And I wasn't alone; my friends -- they struggled with this, too.
我曾以为人生的目标就是追求快乐。大家都说，成功是通往快乐的路，所以我就去寻找理想的工作、完美的男友、还有漂亮的公寓。可是，我不但没有感到圆满，反而觉得焦虑、茫然。而且不只是我，我的好朋友们也是一样。

Eventually, I decided to go to graduate school for positive psychology to learn what truly makes people happy. But what I discovered there changed my life. The data showed that chasing happiness can make people unhappy. And what really struck me was this: the suicide rate has been rising around the world, and it recently reached a 30-year high in America. Even though life is getting objectively better by nearly every conceivable standard, more people feel hopeless, depressed and alone. There's an emptiness gnawing away at people, and you don't have to be clinically depressed to feel it. Sooner or later, I think we all wonder: Is this all there is? And according to the research, what predicts this despair is not a lack of happiness. It's a lack of something else, a lack of having meaning in life.
我最后决定去研究生院读正向心理学，去寻找能让人开心的东西是什么。我在那儿的发现，改变了我的人生。数据显示，追求快乐会让人不快乐。真正让我震惊的是这点：全球的自杀率不断攀升，最近在美国达到三十年来的新高。虽然客观来说，生活变好了，无论用什么标准来衡量，结果都是一样的：有更多人感到无助、沮丧、及孤独。有一种空虚感在侵蚀人们，并不需被临床诊断出沮丧也能感觉到这个现象。我想，迟早我们都会想要知道：难道就只有这样而已吗？根据研究，绝望的原因并不是缺乏快乐，而是缺乏某样东西，是缺乏人生意义。

But that raised some questions for me. Is there more to life than being happy? And what's the difference between being happy and having meaning in life? Many psychologists define happiness as a state of comfort and ease, feeling good in the moment. Meaning, though, is deeper. The renowned psychologist Martin Seligman says meaning comes from belonging to and serving something beyond yourself and from developing the best within you. Our culture is obsessed with happiness, but I came to see that seeking meaning is the more fulfilling path. And the studies show that people who have meaning in life, they're more resilient, they do better in school and at work, and they even live longer.
但这就让我产生了一些问题。难道人生不只是要快乐吗？活得快乐和活得有意义之间有什么差别？许多心理学家把快乐定义为一种舒服自在的状态，在当下感觉很好。而意义则更深。知名心理学家马丁赛里格曼说，意义来自归属感、致力于超越自我之外的事物，以及从内在发展出最好的自己。我们的文化对「快乐」相当痴迷，但我发现，寻找意义才是更让人满足的道路。且研究指出，有人生意义的人适应力也会比较强，他们在学校及职场的表现较佳，他们甚至活得比较久。

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