In the excellent TED talk by Barry Schwartz about the Paradox of Choice, he reminds us that modern society and the large choice in everything is increasing substantially our expectations, creating unhappiness (and depression) as a result. And there he reminds us that “the secret to happiness is: low expectations“.
As he exposes from the historical perspective, “The reason that everything was better back when everything was worse is that when everything was worse, it was actually possible for people to have experiences that were a pleasant surprise. Nowadays, the world we live in — we affluent, industrialized citizens, with perfection the expectation — the best you can ever hope for is that stuff is as good as you expect it to be. You will never be pleasantly surprised, because your expectations, my expectations, have gone through the roof.“
This wise thought about expectations is worse remembering from time to time. As I meet sometimes people who always want more, I wonder whether I should remind them that having little expectation is the key to wonder, amazement and finally happiness.
