Today’s Solutions: August 15, 2026

We all have a happiness “set point”. When extremely positive or negative events happen – such as buying a house or losing a job – they temporarily increase or decrease our happiness, but we eventually drift back to our set point. Researchers have found that our genetic set point is responsible for only 50 percent of our happiness, life circumstances affect about 10 percent, whopping 40 percent is completely up to us. That large portion of your happiness that you control is determined by your habits, attitude, and outlook on life. Good habits encourage happiness, but bad habits can bring us down, some of which we don’t even notice. Here are 13 bad habits you should break to help move your happiness set point to a higher level.

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