sadness trumps happiness because the impact of the bad stuff always leaves a deeper mark than the happy stuff.

take hugs and loneliness for example. yes we get hugged many times by our peers and family as we grow up (not so much for me though haha) and there are the times where we feel like no one is ever there for us. but seriously, how many of those hugs do you remember? how many of those hugs really left an impact on you? i'm guessing maximum 2 (for me its nil). whereas on the other hand you will always remember being left alone. because it haunts you. something like a phobia you know? once you experience it you would never want to go through it again.


vs

could also be that the proportion of happy incidents to sad incidents is like 20:1 thats why we can remember clearly each time we are sad but only vaguely when we are happy.. wonder how it works for perpetually happy people. one day they are just going to burst.