The largest slice of our chart shows that 50 percent of the difference in people’s happiness levels is determined by genetic balance points. This is the result of research that shows us that we are born with a certain level of happiness that will never truly change, that will never truly change, that we must eventually return to, whether we increase or decrease it through our own efforts.
Perhaps the most contradictory result is that, as the chart shows, living conditions and environmental conditions—that is, wealth or poverty, health or disease, beauty or mediocrity, being married or divorced, etc.—were only a percentage of our happiness levels. It makes a difference of 10.
There is another factor outside of our genes and circumstances: our behavior. So the key to my happiness is not in our genes (which is impossible) or changing our circumstances, but in our daily conscious activities. So our chart points to a 40 percent slice that is within our control, giving a chance to opportunities and maneuvers that increase or decrease our happiness through what we do and think in our daily lives.
