DREAM BIG: What Happiness Is and Is Not with Pelin Kesebir

There is all but one dream: the dream of happiness. Throughout time and across the world through infinite variety, all people share the dream of happiness. And yet, many dreams that are achieved fail to bring enduring happiness. Are we dreaming the right kinds of dreams — the ones most conducive to happiness? How can we dream better, so we are more likely to achieve happiness, rather than merely pursue it? Answering these questions requires a fresh understanding of where actual happiness lies, and where it does not. In this talk, Pelin Kesebir, social psychologist and Assistant Scientist at UW-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds, will combine recent insights from the science of happiness with ancient wisdom and lay out the fundamentals of happiness – what it is, what it isn’t, and how each of us can take simple steps to come closer to achieving the fundamental dream that unites us all.