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Posts Tagged ‘happy’
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
What does it mean to be happy? When I talk about the word happiness, I’m referring to the state of contentment where one feels joy and pleasure in life. This state of being is not that of a fleeting moment. I’m not talking about instant joy that can be had from buying a fancy car or winning the lottery. I’m talking about lasting happiness that could be felt day in and day out, year in and year out. In this day and age, where instant happiness is much more common than lasting ones, is it still possible to identify a set of patterns that can create a lasting feeling of satisfaction, contentment, and a constant flux of positive emotions? Or are ‘quick fixes’ the norm, a result of living in a fast paced society where everything is as instant as downloading music? As I was pondering with this somewhat profound notion in my head, I came across this interesting article: “In separate study, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton of Princeton University analyzed more than 450,000 responses to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a daily survey of 1,000 U.S. residents from 2008 to 2009. The authors found that while happy feelings rise with income, it plateaus around $75,000 — “More money does not necessarily buy more happiness, but less money is associated with emotional pain,” the authors write. “Perhaps $75,000 is a threshold beyond which further increases of income no longer improve people’s ability to do what matters most to their emotional well-being: spending time with people they like, avoiding pain and disease and enjoying leisure. What the data suggest is that above a certain level of stable income, people’s emotional well-being is constrained by other factors in their temperament and their life circumstances.” Indeed, to some extent, this survey shows that having more money does not necessarily mean more happy times. And the longevity of happiness is a result of many factors, ranging from having a satisfying life, being emotionally stable, having a fair amount of freedom, and flourishing in life’s pursuits, to being involved in meaningful endeavors, etc, etc. When it comes to prescribing a ‘happy pill’, there seems to be no specific personal, social, psychological, emotional, physical, or spiritual tablet that can bring us lasting joy. (more…)
Tags: happy, joy, satisfaction
Posted in social issues, wellbeing | 31 Comments »
Friday, June 18th, 2010
Don’t you notice that as you get older, there seems to be more and more responsibilities and tasks to do? It gets to the point where we need to find ways to relieve the stress, including taking yearly vacations to start fresh again. But how much does that really help if we can’t change our mindset about things? It seems like, even those who are well-off may complain more than those who are not. As if, the more things you own, the more they own you. Some get sucked into a routine of paying for the car loan, the mortgage, or just trying to maintain a certain lifestyle. Then others may stress about dealing with family, including difficult relatives, close friends, and even significant others. And how about strangers with unpleasant attitudes we meet on the streets? They can potentially pass on their negative energy onto you if you let them. Is this a result of some sort of social overload and materialism that comes from living in urban cities? Or does this sort of thing happen in rural America as well? In any case, I’ve asked myself, how many people, including strangers, have shown me genuine happy smiles? Without being a pessimist, I would say not a great deal. At least, not compared to all the smiles I’ve experienced in poverty-striken places, so poor that they don’t have much aside from a shack to live in, a bicycle to ride, barely enough money to buy food, and a toilet without a seat. Yet, despite what some may see as deplorable, these poor kids, and adults, have shown me the best smiles I’ve ever experienced anywhere. Indeed, life is spartan in rural countrysides, where it’s rare to see tourists visit. These are the hidden gems where one can experience the simple life. As such, simple people seem content with simple things and simple living. They don’t worry about traffic jams and they don’t fuss about what to wear. Nothing is trivial. But such a simple life is not for everyone. What we can take out of this is a sense of humility and gratitude for having what we have, which includes one’s health, family and friends as well as the luxury to do most of the things we want. Those who know how to smile are those who are truly happy inside. They may not show it all the time or in public, but once in a while they do, secretly or when it matters most.
Tags: happy, poor, smiles
Posted in health, social issues, wellbeing | 5 Comments »
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