BOOK REVIEW: Yearning for a bittersweet life
In Susan Cain’s new book, she sets out why embracing the duality of life is the route to happiness
It’s a simple but counterintuitive concept: happiness is a comparative emotion. The truth is, the degree of happiness someone feels is scaled by the measure of their past sorrows.
Physiologically, joy and sadness have the same neural building blocks (https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/observer/obsonline/fear-happiness-and-sadness-share-common-neural-building-blocks.html). This is one explanation for why we cry when we’re sad, and also when we experience great beauty. This duality of tears is evidence of why bittersweetness is intrinsic to a rich life. Sadness is the bassline for joy, and without it happiness has no barometer, and less meaning...
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