Monday
Mar152010
The Happiness Project
Monday, March 15, 2010 at 8:20AM We'll try something different on this dreary Monday morning. Instead of my ranting, I would like for you to answer the following question, along with your thoughts, in the comments.
Do you think that...
- a) Happiness is something you choose?
- b) Happiness is something that the universe hands you?
Go forth.
Reader Comments (9)
A) Choose it.
On days when one thing goes bad and I let myself steep in it, then everything that day goes down like shitty dominoes. But, the best are days like the one I had the day following my first date with my (now) husband. I was so lodged in the clouds that all the shit piled on end couldn't reach me.
B) Eh. I think the Universe sends good things to remind you to look for them, but it sends better stuff when you have a bullseye. Convenient time tables aside, what you want comes to you. It's like zen/karma boomerangs.
Happiness is absolutely a choice, even if it's an unconscious one. It comes -- absolutely and globally -- on the meaning we put on things, so the idea of the universe giving you happiness doesn't wash. Why? The universe could give you lots of things that are, objectively, potentially positive; and yet you would assign them negative, habitual meanings. Life is basically meaningless -- or, put another, better way, it's meaning-neutral. As the Bard said, "'Tis nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so." Viktor Frankel wrote a lot about this, too.
In the end, it's like Lincoln said: most people really are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Creating consciousness of how we automatically assign meaning is the key. Happiness is just that simple, and it's just that dastardly-difficult.
Happiness is something you have to recognize and embrace. I think too many people are chasing after worldly things and they end up feeling depressed. The key to happiness is love. A rich person can have the world at their fingertips and still not be happy. A poor person can have nothing but love and be happier than most.
Materialistic things bring short-term happiness. Love brings a lifetime of happiness.
As a Christian I don't believe in the universe just throwing things at you, or fate. I believe *everything* is an act of God and we choose to respond to it how we will. That said, happiness is, etymologically, a result of circumstance, i.e., happenstance having the same root. So to me happiness is a result of favorable circumstances, but I choose to be joyful regardless of my circumstance.
I think it is a combination. I think life is like a treasure hunt - you have a basic treasure map (your interests, desires, needs, and talents) but then you have to actually go after them - when you do - you pick up happiness and other wonderful treasures along the way that are left for you to find by God. Sometimes you need to pick up one piece of happiness in order to find another. Happiness is found by bringing as much love and wisdom as you have mustered thus far to each moment. It is the love that keeps us on the treasure path. Giving love empties us up enough to pick up that next jewel.
Happiness is a choice. My attitude matters. I believe in really appreciating what I have, as opposed to lamenting over what I do not. I think not comparing helps too. There will always be someone prettier, wealthier, nicer. My happiness should be based on my life, not how I stack up with the lives of others.
I swear I'm not trying to be contrary. I firmly believe happiness comes from how you choose to react to what the universe hands you.
Cheers,
Margaret
Margaret, you're not contrary at all. Honestly, I think you're the winner. I love that answer.
Absolutely happiness is something we choose. It's an attitude towards circumstances, not from circumstances.