What makes us happy?

For much of my adult life I was a teacher, and when the major festive seasons approached, Christmas, or Easter, for example, I used to ask my excited students what exactly it was that made them feel good. Was it giving, or receiving, and almost all of them opted for giving…initially.

I would then ask them if they mostly got excited for themselves, about what they might receive from others, and the answer was unequivocally, yes. BUT, after drilling down further, that yes was often qualified by something like, but you always feel a bit let down afterwards because it’s never the excitement you thought it…