**6.3 Action, frequency, and variety: from bottom-up to top-down and the other way round**

"*Hoping less and acting mor*e" is sometimes a conclusion of philosophical reasoning on happiness [1]. Action is a condition of control over our life and adaptive behavior. The data reported in this chapter also indicate that freeing cognitive resources for action is important for happiness. The analyses mentioned in this chapter concerning brain default mode network suggest that self-oriented thought and rumination interfere with cognitive performance and positive affective experience. Affective regulation is costly. It removes resources that become unavailable for successful goaldirected behavior [137] and can undermine our perception of action opportunities [138]. Perceiving less opportunity for action could then be deleterious for effective action and for a global feeling of achievement and potential realization. Top-down pathways to happiness can be taken into account to prevent the consequences of nonrealistic expectations, broaden one's standpoint on life experience, and reappraise situations. The education of brain, cognition, and behavior could contribute to help individuals develop strategies namely supported by frontal brain areas, and aiming at i) organizing the conditions of positive experience (e.g., frequency and variety of positive events), and ii) focusing activity on action rather than on hopes.
