How to Become a ‘Superager’
&gt; In the United States, we are obsessed with happiness. But as people get older, research shows, they cultivate happiness by avoiding unpleasant situations.<p>Someone asked a few days ago what the best habit was that HNers developed last year and what the health benefits were. I realised I shouldn&#x27;t do things because I thought they&#x27;d make me happy, and it has changed everything. Put another way, I don&#x27;t only do things I think I&#x27;m going to enjoy any more.<p>It&#x27;s an incredibly powerful mindset to not have an expectation of happiness or enjoyment as an outcome of an action. I used not to do a lot of things because I couldn&#x27;t see the point or because I thought I wouldn&#x27;t like them. Now I do those things anyway, more just to see what they&#x27;re like rather than because I expect to enjoy them. I do things to see what actually happens instead of limiting myself to my own preconceptions.<p>Most of the time, I&#x27;m right, and I don&#x27;t enjoy those things, but that&#x27;s OK. They&#x27;re still showing me different aspects of life and allowing me to exercise arguably our most innate gift, the ability to <i>experience</i>. There have been a few surprises though. I&#x27;ve taken up sports I&#x27;d previously discounted, and now I&#x27;ve stuck with them long enough I can see the appeal. I&#x27;m learning a musical instrument and get much less frustrated because I see the learning process as just training my brain, a function of time and effort. There&#x27;s no point in being frustrated.<p>Now I just view experiences as things to be experienced, without requiring anything more of them. This means there&#x27;s less pressure on me and on them to give me anything. My attitude to them and awareness of them is more important than deriving happiness and enjoyment.<p>Now I&#x27;ve written that it reads like zen, but when I practiced zen it was because I wanted to be happy from it. The thing with learning is it&#x27;s not enough to have the knowledge. You need the insight to really internalise something. It&#x27;s that &quot;A-ha!&quot; moment. I guess I arrived at the same conclusion as the Zennists from a different direction. Only doing things you think will make you happy is just a way too limiting mindset.<p>It really has been a complete revolution in my approach to life. I can&#x27;t recommend it enough. And it looks like this attitude will keep my brain healthy too.