This Emotional Life, a new series to premiere on PBS on January 4, 2010, will examine the dynamics of emotion in the lives of Americans. It will focus particularly on why we have such a hard time being happy.

The video (above) shares a preview of what you might expect for this new series as Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love shares an interesting story about how humans need intimacy but struggle to balance closeness and freedom in their pursuit of happiness.