There are two kinds of happiness, or pleasure. One that is momentary in nature which is immediate and often short lived. And another that takes a much longer time to kick in and is often the opposite of pleasure in the moment.
If you plot this on a matrix, you'll have four grids where anything that we experience will fall into.
Some can lead to pleasure in the immediate moment but not in the longer term, like eating a lot of junk food. Some can be painful in the moment but lead to longer term happiness, like regular exercise. Some can be painful both in the moment and in the long term like failing at an important test. And some can be pleasurable both in the immediate moment and in the long term like playing a sport.
The goal is simply to maximize the activities that lead to longer term happiness, irrespective of how they make us feel in the immediate moment.
However, we make it easier on ourselves if we find ways to maximize the grid that are both pleasurable in the immediate moment and lead to longer term happiness.
CONVERSATION