I read this article by this fella named Brett McKay, on this website The Art of Manliness, about this one study. If you have the time, jump over there and read the whole thing: love is all you need. So about this study: in few words, it’s a scientific be-all & end-all of what makes a good life. Of course, ‘scientific’ comes with the usual caveats: they had a very small and very homogenous test group but they cross checked results with other those of other studies of different demographics, procedure and methodology play a significant role as always, yadda yadda. Want the punchline straight? Here: ‘happiness is love. full stop.’ Really, that’s it. Reminds me of the ending of one of my favorite movies of all time, Kung-Fu Panda: ‘the secret is that there’s no secret at all.’ The more love, the better the life.

OK, so while there’s no secret…there are a ton of details and interesting facts and wonderful insights, all for which I’d highly recommend reading the article. The article is actually a summary of a book, The Triumphs of Experience, which I believe I’m going to have to add to my reading list.