I’m starting to wonder if we aren’t all focusing a little too hard on happiness or rather the lack thereof.  I passed several blog references yesterday to a new iPhone app/survey that will ping you with interview questions regarding your current state of happiness in an effort to figure out when and what makes you the happiest.

For one thing I can’t imagine anything much more annoying and more importantly it’s beginning to remind me of the American obesity ‘crisis’.  It’s a real medical and cultural problem but the more media attention and group hand wringing that occurs the worse it gets.  There’s been a Presidential Council on Physical Fitness acknowledging the issue of children and exercise since 1956!  The only impact it seems to have is a few torturous days in gym class when it’s publicly acknowledged who can or can’t do a chin-up.  Obviously that’s not working all that well so why expand the same process to other areas?

Maybe the manifestation gurus have something when they say that focusing on the problem just brings more of it.  If you constantly focus on the lack of complete happiness what are the odds that you will bring more of a sense of incompleteness to your life? It seems to me that what makes us happy changes all the time anyway.

What to do?

Instead of constantly assessing your happiness level or giving up and living with unhappiness, what about looking for the happiness and joy in whatever is going on?  I don’t love taking out the garbage but I think it’s pretty cool to live in a part of the world where garbage collection happens and in a town that hasn’t had a garbage strike. It also makes me happy to check off another chore for the week.

I think it’s also important to know that happiness and problems aren’t mutually exclusive.  Kids can be happy in a homeless shelter (maybe not long term but they know how to enjoy something fun in the moment) and adults can be happy while struggling with divorce or unemployment or anything else that life throws their way.

So what are you happy about right now?

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