We are bombarded with the imperative mission to seek happiness, but from an evolutionary perspective we are motivated to avoid discomfort.

Anxiety, ambition, and desire are discomforts from which we act: we re-act. There is no “carrot and stick” of reward and punishment. Our only motivating force is avoidance, which is a response., and the challenge is to harness our response as responsibility.

Meanwhile, happiness seems to be a by-product of achievement or participation, not an end to be pursued unto itself.

Merging these notions: “dis-traction” (avoidance) towards happiness will fail to bring it, because you gain no “traction.”