So there are the things we want that don’t make us happy for long, and then there are things that are supposed to be good for us: a healthy diet, and plenty of exercise, and eating green leafy vegetables that taste bad, and not eating things that taste good. Few of us look forward to doing what’s good for us.

There’s something odd about that. If something’s good for us, it leaves us in a better state than we were beforehand. And certainly, being in a better state ought to make us happy.

And in fact, it does. The trouble is, it sometimes takes a while.