{"id":34371,"date":"2025-01-06T21:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/dark-side-of-pursuit-of-happiness\/"},"modified":"2025-01-06T21:59:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T21:59:00","slug":"dark-side-of-pursuit-of-happiness","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/dark-side-of-pursuit-of-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Dark Side\u2019 of the Pursuit of Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yale psychologist June Gruber has confirmed the many positive physical, social, and psychological benefits of human happiness. But while working at the University of California-Berkeley she also started to see a dark side to happiness&mdash;or at least the pursuit of happiness.<\/p>\n\n<p>In her clinical language she put it this way: &ldquo;Happiness serves a specific function, and happiness may not always be adaptive&rdquo; (that is, happiness might not be the most appropriate or helpful response).<\/p>\n\n<p>Pursuing happiness is not always a good thing. Paradoxically, studies reviewed by Gruber and colleagues in their recent paper show that people who place the highest value on pursuing happiness tend to be less happy and more prone to depression.<\/p>\n\n<p>Gruber says,<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Setting your sights on happiness as the end goal may inadvertently be setting yourself up for disappointment. If you want to live a rich and happy life, it might be better to stop pursuing happiness so aggressively. Instead, engage in meaningful activities especially those that promote deep connections with others, while trying to [accept] your current emotional state, wherever it is.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[405,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3366,3368,3644,3683,3762,3786,3982,3985,4066,4117,4181,4182,4441,4442,4528,4743,4873,4885],"tax_ctp_topics":[396],"class_list":["post-34371","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-abundant-life","tax_ctp_tags-acceptance","tax_ctp_tags-community","tax_ctp_tags-contentment","tax_ctp_tags-depravity","tax_ctp_tags-disappointment","tax_ctp_tags-fellowship","tax_ctp_tags-felt-needs","tax_ctp_tags-goals","tax_ctp_tags-happiness","tax_ctp_tags-human-nature","tax_ctp_tags-human-need","tax_ctp_tags-meaning","tax_ctp_tags-meaning-of-life","tax_ctp_tags-need","tax_ctp_tags-psychology","tax_ctp_tags-sadness","tax_ctp_tags-satisfaction"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The \u2018Dark Side\u2019 of the Pursuit of Happiness - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/dark-side-of-pursuit-of-happiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u2018Dark Side\u2019 of the Pursuit of Happiness - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yale psychologist June Gruber has confirmed the many positive physical, social, and psychological benefits of human happiness. 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