What Is Happiness: Sandburg's Answer And The Role of Rose-Tinted Spectacles

I ASKED the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell
me what is happiness.
And I went to famous executives who boss the work of
thousands of men.
They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though
I was trying to fool with them
And then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out along
the Desplaines river
And I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with
their women and children and a keg of beer and an accordion.

- Carl Sandburg, Chicago Poems

Researchers in positive psychology have argued for some time that we have a "psychological immune system" that leaps into action in response to significant and substantial negative events (the death of a loved one, redundancy) but allows small negative events (the commute into work; fast-food wrappers stuffed in your garden hedge by passers-by) to occur and accumulate without any response. Which means that our day-to-day happiness is more profoundly influenced by little events than by big ones. Banal as this sounds, it has been validated by many studies. Some researchers advocate that a hassles and uplifts index is a better method for  assessing people's happiness and wellbeing than the more usual scoring mechanism that only recognises recent, major life-events.