“[S]atisfaction can arise only by the conscious decision to do something.”
Greogory Berns, Satisfaction
Excerpt from fuller sentence, “While you might find pleasure by happenstance–winning the lottery, possessing the genes for a sunny temperament, or having the luck not to live in poverty–satisfaction can arise only by the conscious decision to do something. And this makes all the difference in the world, because it is only your own actions for which you may take responsibility and credit,” as quoted in this Scientific American article (March 2007).
Furthermore, Gregory Burns says, “satisfaction comes less from the attainment of a goal and more in what you must do to get there.” (From Publishers Review quoted here.)
Gregory Berns’ attitude speaks to me a lot about expertise being trainable and about goals.
Just confessing here that, after reading this post, I borrowed the quote that you used from the Scientific American article.
Also, that I’m glad about the recent direction these posts have taken. There’s often an impression that positive psych embraces the idea that happiness mostly involves a change in perspective or way of thinking, but it also involves “doing something.” It can take work and making a choice is only one step. Your recent posts seem to show that.