The Pursuit of Happiness
We recently watched an absolutely delightful and thought-provoking movie. It starred the lovable and wholesome Will Smith and his adorable, real-life son, Jaden. The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the true story of Christopher Gardner's ascent from poverty to multi-millionaire status. Way to go Christopher!
In the movie, Smith (playing Gardner's character) at the height of his frustration dealing with the imminent threat of homelessness wonders why Thomas Jefferson thought to put pursuit of happiness in our country's founding documents along with other constitutional rights such as life, liberty and justice for all. Why pursuit? Is it due to the elusive nature of happiness? Are we destined to always be in pursuit of it, striving for it and never really actually having it?
Some psychologists and happiness researchers (yes, there is such an occupation!) believe that the moment you start pursuing certain qualities, you lose the ability to have them. Happiness is a good example. What exactly is happiness and what do we truly need to be happy?
Certainly it's not money. Plenty of wealthy people are unhappy. We live in arguably the richest country in the world yet we rank remarkably low on the happiness scale. Our ranking is about 23rd in the world according to British researchers quoted in a 2006 Businessweek Magazine article. Countries like Switzerland, Austria and Iceland topped the list 10 in the article's World Map of Happiness. Number one on the list: Denmark. Where exactly is Denmark?
Some say among the most happy and at peace here in the U.S., the minimalistic and imperturbable Amish top the list. What do they know that we don't.
Apparently, what we don't know about happiness is a lot. But we may be closing in on a definition because we're learning more and more about what it's not.
It's not fame. We can all easily cite dozens of famous people who are unhappy. We know this either through their own admission or as evidenced by their destructive lifestyle. Wasn't kazillionaire David Hasselhoff captured in a drunken episode broadcast on YouTube.com (so unfortunate for him!) saying he has so many problems with his life? Yet for a time he executive produced the number one television show in the entire world, Baywatch.
Being drop-dead gorgeous doesn't necessarily make us happy. Nor does it guarantee a long and blissful marriage. Beauty, even to the ultra-extreme level, doesn't even guarantee us a ticket to the marriage party.
So just what is happiness? Since researchers are identifying good health as a key trait of citizens of content nations, maybe we could start there. Beyond this maybe we could train our grasping minds to accept and live well with the ephemeral nature of everything else.
Could happiness be that simple? Maybe we are already happy and just don't realize it. Is too much of our time and energy being spent in "pursuit" of happiness as opposed to simply "being" happy? Is happiness as simple as choosing it, right here — right now, regardless of our circumstances especially if we have or can attain good health? It's food for thought!
Today, experiment with choosing to just be healthy and happy. Think Denmarkian.
In the movie, Smith (playing Gardner's character) at the height of his frustration dealing with the imminent threat of homelessness wonders why Thomas Jefferson thought to put pursuit of happiness in our country's founding documents along with other constitutional rights such as life, liberty and justice for all. Why pursuit? Is it due to the elusive nature of happiness? Are we destined to always be in pursuit of it, striving for it and never really actually having it?
Some psychologists and happiness researchers (yes, there is such an occupation!) believe that the moment you start pursuing certain qualities, you lose the ability to have them. Happiness is a good example. What exactly is happiness and what do we truly need to be happy?
Certainly it's not money. Plenty of wealthy people are unhappy. We live in arguably the richest country in the world yet we rank remarkably low on the happiness scale. Our ranking is about 23rd in the world according to British researchers quoted in a 2006 Businessweek Magazine article. Countries like Switzerland, Austria and Iceland topped the list 10 in the article's World Map of Happiness. Number one on the list: Denmark. Where exactly is Denmark?
Some say among the most happy and at peace here in the U.S., the minimalistic and imperturbable Amish top the list. What do they know that we don't.
Apparently, what we don't know about happiness is a lot. But we may be closing in on a definition because we're learning more and more about what it's not.
It's not fame. We can all easily cite dozens of famous people who are unhappy. We know this either through their own admission or as evidenced by their destructive lifestyle. Wasn't kazillionaire David Hasselhoff captured in a drunken episode broadcast on YouTube.com (so unfortunate for him!) saying he has so many problems with his life? Yet for a time he executive produced the number one television show in the entire world, Baywatch.
Being drop-dead gorgeous doesn't necessarily make us happy. Nor does it guarantee a long and blissful marriage. Beauty, even to the ultra-extreme level, doesn't even guarantee us a ticket to the marriage party.
So just what is happiness? Since researchers are identifying good health as a key trait of citizens of content nations, maybe we could start there. Beyond this maybe we could train our grasping minds to accept and live well with the ephemeral nature of everything else.
Could happiness be that simple? Maybe we are already happy and just don't realize it. Is too much of our time and energy being spent in "pursuit" of happiness as opposed to simply "being" happy? Is happiness as simple as choosing it, right here — right now, regardless of our circumstances especially if we have or can attain good health? It's food for thought!
Today, experiment with choosing to just be healthy and happy. Think Denmarkian.
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