Happy happy, joy joy

J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly has a post on The Psychology of Happiness. The conclusions tie neatly into my own recent post: Prosperity -- Journey or Destination?

To quote:

• About 50% of individual happiness comes from a genetic set point. That is, we’re each predisposed to a certain level of happiness. Some of us are just naturally more inclined to be cheery than others.
• About 10% of our happiness is due to our circumstances. Our age, race, gender, personal history, and, yes, wealth, only make up about one-tenth of our happiness.
• The remaining 40% of an individual’s happiness seems to be derived from intentional activity, from “discrete actions or practices that people can choose to do”.

So clearly working toward prosperity is more critical to our happiness than reaching some predefined set point.