“The circumstances of our lives may actually matter less to our happiness than the sense of control we feel over our lives” says Rory Sutherland. As we know, feeling in control of our lives is both a need and in some respect an illusion – in particular in the ever more complex world.
We are thus constantly struggling to adjust between this feeling of control and the reality of the events and constraints that shape what we do and what we decide to do.
I believe that what is important is to have a number of areas almost fully under our control, even if the rest is not. We can be fully in control of our garden or some part of our house and at the same time acknowledge that we can’t do anything about the condition of the economy. It is great also to be in a position to see that efforts that we are making towards some goal bear fruits.
Therefore, I believe that what is really important is to have a few areas where this feeling of control is sufficiently high to give us happiness, and acknowledge at the same time that other areas will never be – and not be sour for this.
