You’re Expecting the Wrong Things to Make You Happy

Inc.:

If you want to take a selfie to record a happy moment, you’ll probably reach for your phone at that awesome concert you’ve been dying to see or on a memorable night out with an old friend. You’d never think to snap a shot of you sipping a cup of tea on some random Tuesday or having a quick chat with an acquaintance. But maybe, if you really want to see yourself at your peak of well being, you should start taking way more boring pictures.

According to a new series of studies published in Psychological Science, recalling exactly these sort of mundane moments makes us happy. The research, lead by Harvard Business School’s Ting Zhang, delved into the question of how expectations of enjoyment and actual emotions lined up by asking 135 college students to create a time capsule at the beginning of the summer. These capsules included ordinary aspects of the students’ lives, such as songs they were listening to, a section of a paper they had written, and a recollection of an everyday conversation.

Read the whole story: Inc.