As a motivational speaker and coach, I have the good fortune to work with amazing people. Many of my clients have all the money they will ever need. The next illusive item I watch my clients and I chase is...happiness.

I noticed a trend. The more "high flying" a clients life, the more the "little stuff" bugged them. Today I saw my theory backed up with scientific research. The study by University of Virginia psychology professor Shigehiro Oishi and colleagues at three other institutions. They were looking at the relative happiness of Western Europeans versus those from Asia heritage.

Westerners tend to react more dramatically to negative events, and recover at a slower rate.

"We found that the more positive events a person has, the more they feel the effects of a negative event," Oishi said. "People seem to dwell on the negative thing when they have a large number of good events in their life.

So it seems that taking the good with the bad
Expecting your life to be HAPPY*HAPPY*HAPPY is a recipe for disappointment and a lower level of joy.