Ed Diener

If most of your goals are unpleasant to work for, you better change either your goals or your attitudes.

The former justice of the US Supreme Court Benjamin Cordozo expressed this well: “In the end the great truth will have been learned: that the quest is greater than what is sought, the effort finer than the prize (or, rather, that the effort *is* the prize), the victory cheap and hollow were it not for the rigor of the game.

Research shows that most people are mildly happy most of the time.

Cultivating positive relationships is essential to overall psychological wealth. Although people differ in their need for social relationships, and in the types of social relationships they most enjoy, we all need to receive and give social support. We all need to be loved and to love others.

Money can be a help in attaining psychological wealth, but it must be considered in the bigger picture of what makes people genuinely rich.

Maximize your psychological wealth, and this will mean occasionally experiencing a few negative emotions.

To put this into a formula, subjective well-being = positive affect - negative affect + life satisfaction + flourishing.

Bear in mind that selecting the products, relationships, and outcomes that are good enough for you, regardless of what others may think, is a surer route to happiness.

As incredible as it sounds, having more choices can actually detract from happiness.

Positive thinking is not about ignoring negative events or pretending that life is better in the face of adversity. Positive thinking does not magically make things happen. Nor is an upbeat outlook alone enough to overcome hardship. Rather, positive thinking is a mindset in which you recognize your blessings more than you pay attention to daily hassles.

We are optimistic that just as science transformed our material world in the twentieth century, it can revolutionize our understanding of happiness in the twenty-first century.

Understanding psychological wealth is about having a “balanced portfolio.” This book provides an overview of the elements of psychological wealth that research reveals are good investments.