No one can tell you how to be happy, but wouldn't it be nice if all you had to do was read an article in New York Mag? Well, we tried. The cover of the July 17 New York Mag features a dark figure blotted with the iconic yellow smiley face that has become the universal symbol for happiness, the feature article by Jennifer Senior promises to tell us How to be Happy.

We were eager to learn the secrets of happiness and peeled back page after page of the extensive article as it offered a history of “happiness studies”, as well as a rundown of who is happy according to the Authentic Happiness Inventory designed by Chris Peterson of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

According to the Happiness Inventory the statistics go like this: NYC is among the least happy zip-codes and Branson, Missouri is the happiest, lottery winners are no happier than those with regular jobs, the elderly are far happier than the young, smart people are substantially less happy than not so smart people, and attractive people are only slightly happier than the unattractive. None of this answers the question of HOW to be Happy, just who is already happy, and who isn't.

When we boiled down the whole article this is what we got:

Don't try too hard to be happy.

The article discusses Maximizers: a term created by Economists for those who seek out the best options in life. “Maximizers, in practically every study one can find, are far more miserable than people who are willing to make do (economists call these people satisficers).” Though this sounds backwards, it is actually an excellent point. Maximizers look for the BEST possible options in life, and there are an awful lot of options out there. The article explains that too many options is just as maddening as no options at all, if not more so. Barry Schwartz a psychology professor at Swarthmore had this to say about New York's abundance of choices: “On every block, there's a lifetime's worth of opportunities. And if I'm right, either they (Maximizers) won't be able to choose or they will choose, and they'll be convinced they chose badly.”

Don't get stuck on the Hedonic Treadmill.

We've already established that money can't buy happiness, the same goes for aquisitions. The posh penthouse, the extravagant vacations, the big ticket shoes, they may make you feel good temporarily, but they will not make you happy. If anything you will experience buyer's remorse and become consumed with an overwhelming desire for the next must have item, and the cycle will continue. The article's contributers go as far as to advise against working overtime, choosing time with friends and family over the extra clink in your piggy bank. They say that of course everyone wants, but take time to decipher between genuine aspirations and mindless yearning. Darrin McMahon, the author of Happiness: A History, made the point that the Big Apple is a perfect moniker for the city: “The apple is the cause of the fall of human happiness,” he says. “It's the symbol of that desire for something more. Even though paradise was paradise, they were still restless.”

Imagine it could be worse.

Writer Jennifer Senior attributes the human imagination with “an odd knack for Photoshopping things in and airbrushing things out,” she adds, “it also tends to mistake our present feelings for future ones.” It is important to remember that our imaginations help us rationalize out of negative experiences. In fact we are more likely to cope with a situation that we chose to act on that went poorly than one where we took no action at all. Overall remember that humans are astoundingly resealant creatures capable of surviving circumstances they can't even fathom. So, imagine it could be worse and realize that even if it were, you'd probably be okay.

Finally, we would like to suggest taking a proactive stance on your happiness and the happiness of those around you. Take the time today to do something small to make someone else happy, chances are it will make you happy too.

Post your ideas on How to be Happy. What do you do to spread happiness?