We’ve all heard that introverts tend to be less happy than extroverts. But that conclusion holds only if you define happiness in a very narrow way — the loud, exuberant kind of joy that lights up brain scans and personality surveys. As a person with a quiet and “highly sensitive” temperament — and a pretty high baseline level of contentment — I always scratch my head about these findings.
And when you look more closely, a different picture emerges: there are quieter, deeper forms of happiness that many of us (especially introverts) know intimately, and that rarely get counted.
I want to share these with you, because they may change how you understand your own wellbeing — and help you choose the activities that truly make you happiest.
Here are five alternative sources of happiness, around which to possibly orient your life: