Your Happiness Is Like a Rocking Chair

Imagine that, for once just for kicks, you decided to play the lottery and, not long after, you saw that the winning numbers were yours. You’re now millions of dollars richer. Do you think you’d be happier? Most of us think so. Now imagine that, instead of winning the lottery, you got into an accident and just learned that you’ll be paralyzed from the waist down. That would be a downer, right?

I’d think that, too. But studies of people who have these great and terrible things happen to them follow a curious pattern: Lottery winners are happier and people put in wheelchairs are sadder—but not for very long. After a few, they return to .