W e are all chasing happiness. We talk of it as if it were real, a place the budget airlines will surely soon be flying to, or a new product - iPhoria? - that will hit the shelves any day. We sniff at mere contentment. Disgruntlement we see as aberration. And being down in the dumps is a certifiable disease.

But what would happen if we all finally found happiness? Imagine if life's little flaws - the way the car grumbles on the motorway, the fact that Tuscany is becoming too touristy - stopped nagging away at us, and we realised that things are fine just as they are? For a start, if we thought life already blissful, we might do without the even fancier iPod; if we had already found paradise, we probably wouldn't need to upgrade our patio furniture; and if we were more at ease with ourselves, we might not bother with the new hairstyle or the botox.