On the outside my life seems perfect. I have a well paying job, a loving husband, a beautiful home and great friends & family.What more can one ask for?
However,on the inside, I don't feel happy. When I share this with AP she asks me, what is happiness and what would my ideal happy day be like.It is,by far, the toughest question I have faced. I struggle with a few generalist statements and then it's all blank.My head starts to spin and I'm consumed by my foolishness. The realization dawns.I have a 1000 cribs and rants about not being happy, but I don't even understand what it means. I'm shocked at my ignorance and pledge to change.
Out comes the computer and I type away noisily, determined to produce my masterpiece on what happiness means to me. Predictably, beyond a few lines on the good life no magic happens on happiness.doc.
I decide to call upon the great minds of our 21 centuries at the bookstore to help me learn a thing or two about this damn thing which has perplexed me. I'm amazed at the amount of dope out there on the subject.I must say, it has provided quite a livelihood to many for centuries. So here is the list of few interesting things I learnt:
1. is the most fundamental of all human goals, underlying everything we do in life
2. is Nature's basic incentive for living.
3. is defined, by scientists, as a positive emotion creating a feeling of wellbeing, naturally enough, contentment etc.
4. is at the core of both the most basic experiences in life as well as the experiences in life we consider the most self-actualizing and enriching.
5.occurs in the human brain! We experience it consciously -- it is a state of mind.
6. is a conscious choice, not an automatic learned response by the brain.
7.is a function of accepting what is.
8.is different from pleasure though they appear similar. Pleasure is more external stimuli driven and happiness is internal.
9.can be measured quantitatively. Look up the Gross National Happiness in Bhutan.
10.can now be produced in a lab by scientists.
11. can mean different things to different people
12. Everyone wants it. Everyone dreams of finding it. But, most have no clue about the what and the how...
14. is considered a birth right today rather than something you work at. At your disposal sir 24/7!
15. is a huge marketing opportunity. Self help books generate $1billion in annual sales and anti-depressants a whooping $17billion.
16.is the single most sought after thing in the world.
17.is not something that comes to you. It is something you create now, today.
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| Happiness in Perpetuity: Paul Bond |
Thank you at what looks like a very comprehensive summary.. to be honest I've never tried to find out what Happiness is.. I just know when I am.. or am not.
ReplyDeleteBut I often struggle with unexplained unhappiness and have to wonder why I am feeling like the way I am..
Nice post.
ReplyDeleteMy take: "The right balance between appreciation for what you have and the quest for more."
Ah happiness in a nutshell :)I Prefer my happiness out of a bottle - the ' by prescription only' ones that dispense little blue pills that smother your brain with chemical goodness. A couple of those a day keeps the straitjacket away! I think the secret to happiness is not to seek it, but to stumble upon it while doing something that engages you physically, creatively and constructively. Obviously to eliminate comparison, and most of all to manage expectations - sow the seed of high expectation and reap a harvest of bitter disappointment (thought i'd provide an agrarian-friendly aphorism for a jatti).
ReplyDeleteBut keep up the search, perhaps one day and you'll look back, and realise that what u thought was just the beginning of looking for happiness.. was perhaps happiness in itself!