Being happy is fashionable today - almost the same as being successful. It is unlikely that when you go to the pages of friends and acquaintances on social networks, you will find out what bad happened to them - in 80% of cases people prefer to position themselves on the Internet as serene people whose life is developing the way they need.

Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, M.D., is sure that recognizing an unhappy person is very simple. All you need to do is to see how he behaves with those people whom he does not necessarily have to treat well.

It is impossible not to admit that people really know how to pretend well - smile broadly, talk about how wonderful everything is going for them at work and in relationships, brag about high salaries and the recognition of colleagues, the psychologist argues.

But there is a nuance: pay attention to how a person communicates with people who are not important to him - with a waiter in a cafe, a cloakroom attendant in a theater, passengers in public transport. Often a person who does not feel truly happy will behave rudely, condescendingly, dismissively.

Bruce Y. Lee is sure that when people communicate with those who are equal or lower in status, they throw off the mask, showing their real face. At such moments, they forget that they need to maintain the image of a happy person, allowing themselves to relax. No wonder - after all, pretending to be someone you are not is a rather laborious task that takes a lot of energy, the psychologist explains. And sooner or later the cup of patience overflows.

This is also why, when meeting new people, experts often advise paying attention to how they communicate with waiters. It is worth being alert at the moment when a person makes racist, sexist and other statements that discriminate against various groups of people.