1。Badstuff，athebottomofthescale。
atthebottomof：在……的底部
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ASimpleTruthAboutHappiness
佚名Anonymous
Iarticularlyhappydlikemostteenagers，Ireveledinmyangst。Oneday，however，itoethatIwastakingtheeasywayout。Anyonecouldbeunhappy；ittoeoreffort。Truegelayinstrugglingtobehappy。
&hatwehavetoinessesasomanypeople。Weassumeit’safeelingthatesasaresultofgoodthingsthatjusthappentous，thingsoverwhichwehavelittleornotrol。
Buttheoppositeistrue：happinessislargelyunderourtrol。Itisabattletobewagedandobea>
Toachieveahappierlife，it’sooverblingblocks，threeof>
parisonwithOthers
Mostofuspareourselveswithahinkishappier—arelative，anaeonewebarelyknow。Ioayoungmanwhostruckmeasparticularlysucdhappy。Hespokeofhisloveforhisbeautifulwifeaers，andofhisjoyatbeingaradiotalk-showhostinacityheloved。Irememberthinkinghewasohoselueverythilesslyright。
&artedtalkingabouttheI。Heblesseditsexisteoldme，becausehecouldlookupinformationonmultiplesclerosis—theterriblediseaseafflighiswife。Ifeltlikeafnothinguedinhislife。
ImagesofPerfe
Almostanyofushaveimagesofhowlifeshouldbe。Theproblem，ofcourse，isthatonlyrarelydopeople’sjobs，spousesandliveuptotheseimaginedideals。
Here’sapersonalexample：Nooneinmyfamilyhadeverdivorced。Iassumedthatmarriagewasforlife。SowhenmywifeandIdivorcedthreeyearsafterthebirthofourson，myworld。Iwasafailureinmyowneyes。
Ilaterremarriedbutfidedtomywife，FranthatI’tshakethefeelingthatmyfamilylifehadfailed。Sheaskedmeithourfamilynow（whicludedherdaughterfromaprevieandmyson）。Ihadtoadmitthat，asidefromthepaihmysononlyhalfthetime（myex-wifeaody），ourfamilylifewaswonderful。
“Thenwhydoeit？”Sheasked。
That’swhatIdecidedtodo。ButfirstIhadtogetridoftheimageofa“perfect”family。
“MissingTile”Syndrome
&ivewayofsabotagiolookatsomethiedoflaw。It’slikelookingupatafileddtratingonthespacewhereoileismissing。Asabaldmantoldme，“Wheeraroom，allIseeishair。”
&yearsstudyinghappiness，ahemostsignifisI’vedrawnisthis：thereislittlecorrelatiohecesofpeople’slivesandhoytheyare。Amomeionshouldmakethisobvious。eoplewhohavehadarelativelyeasylifeyetareessentiallyunhappy。Andhohavesufferedagreatdealbutgenerallyremainhappy。