Passion v Biology in Life and Addiction

They discovered what makes for a happy, fulfilled life. It also makes you live the longest and the best able to resist addiction.

We tell so many stories about people whose gifts are destroyed by disease: autism, ADHD, bipolar, etc.

Why are so many people defined by their diagnosis? The person themselves usually grasps onto the diagnosis —but is still unhappy.

Let’s turn to a person who thought happiness and success were biologically determined in the form of a given trait — intelligence: the IQ guru Lewis Terman.

Terman and his colleagues tracked youths with genius IQs throughout their lives.

In the end, however, the study refuted the idea that a biological trait — IQ or otherwise — led to success and longevity — or to happiness v addiction. Instead, the Terman study team found those things resulted from an attitude, a relationship to life.

In 1921, Terman and his colleagues started a study of people with high IQs. Originally (to show you where Terman was coming from) it was titled “The Genetics Study of Genius.” It evolved into the Terman Study of the Gifted. It’s now known as The Longevity Project. It comprises the longest study of individual lives ever conducted.

Terman wished to follow the most brilliant young people in America, as determined by his IQ test, to prove his belief about the determining impact of high intelligence.

But the results didn’t bear him out. Terman was first struck that only 50 of more than 1,500 high-IQ subjects became university faculty. (Like Terman himself was.)

Terman concluded: “We have seen that intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated.”

The study continued until all the subjects died. When the study concluded, Time announced its most definitive finding with this headline: “This 95-Year Stanford Study Reveals 1 Secret to Living a Longer, More Fulfilling Life.”

It wasn’t intelligence. Nor was it achievement or its opposite — screwing off:

“This decades-long study shows that living an easy, stress-free life won’t make you happier—and definitely won’t help you live longer.”

In other words, living in Margaritaville isn’t an answer.

The study found that not only the most satisfying lives, but the longest ones, shared the same trait. (We might also add “most addiction resistant”.)

The study’s conclusion:

“We did not find that precisely living out your dreams matters much for your health. It was not the happiest [meaning “most pleasure seeking”] or the most relaxed older participants who lived the longest. It was those who were most engaged in pursuing their goals.”

Having a life-motivating purpose—one providing a meaning beyond meeting basic needs—is the secret to a longer, more fulfilling life.

In a word — passion.

Which we assist with in the Life Process Program.

#Lifeprocessprogram.com #purpose #addiction #passion #recovery