I’m happy, what about you?
September 10, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under The Art of Happiness
As an aid to inspiration and blogging I have a few Google alerts setup to keep me up to date on what is being posted out there on certain topics. When I set it up the word ‘happiness’ seemed like a logical choice but now I’m starting to roll my eyes out of frustration. Every single day there are ten or so blog posts or articles that Google deems newsworthy enough to send me with titles like “8 steps to happiness” “money doesn’t buy happiness”, “money does buy happiness”, “why aren’t we happy”, “what is happiness”, “how to be happier” etc., etc., etc. The web is obsessing about happiness and it seems to be getting unhappier about it every day.
When I stop to think about it, I am happy. I don’t have everything I want, I haven’t achieved my big goals, I have money worries, and I just lost my father but when I go down the back steps and out to my garage to solder little bronze wires together, I’m happy. When I sit down to my computer and write, I’m happy. The way I know that is that I consciously ask myself how I’m feeling rather than waiting for a certificate in the mail saying that I’ve achieved happiness. It seems like people are confusing the emotion with a lack of stress or a specific goal. It is possible to be both happy and sad at the same time or happy and stressed.
So how are you feeling? Do you find yourself frowning or smiling when you’re by yourself and nobody can see you?
Hi Juliet,
I completely agree: happiness is not achieved by thinking about it all the time, but instead by doing what you love doing and just “being”.
Concerning the definition of happiness: I recently had my own shot at defining happiness, which aims to be more “scientific” and “objective” despite being a subjective feeling: http://www.spreadinghappiness.org/2009/08/what-is-happiness
Also, you address the question “does money make you happy”; I thought about this too, and I believe that it depends: http://www.spreadinghappiness.org/2009/08/money-how-much-should-we-strive-for-it-to-become-happy/
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Thank you, Nick