Watched a great documentary recently on the study of happiness.
For years doctors have studied and treated depression, but not untill recently has the study of what makes people happier than others been deeply looked into.
Study showed about 50% of happiness is genetic. The other 50% generally has to do with your daily choices, IE; being active etc..
Studies showed that a guy in India who walks barefoot to work, lives in a hut with his wife and four children, ranked as happy and satisfied with life as the average middle class american, which isnt really surprising to me, but the question is.. Why ?
Why is that guy with no shoes as happy as a guy with new nikes ?
Its really simple...
If you were in a forest in winter time with no clothing or shelter and hungry, you wouldnt be very happy. That goes without saying. And if someone found you and gave you things like, a warm fire, clothing, a warm bowl of soup, you would be much happier than before. Thats a truth. The lie we've created for ourselves is that, since these things make us more happy then not having them, people think having MORE will make them MORE happy. Truth is, the guy who makes 30 Million dollars a year, isnt any happier than a guy who makes 30 thousand.
Once we meet our hierarchy of needs, (food clothing shelter companionship community) there is not too much that truly makes us happy.
When I think of Puna, I think of having just these simple things and getting back to the essentials of what makes people happy.
Aloha.
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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HAPPINESS. YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO BE HAPPY WITHOUT IT.
HAPPINESS IS WANTING WHAT YOU HAVE.
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I want happiness...
Get rid of the I, thats your ego
Get rid of your wants, that's your greed
Loose your ego and your greed and what you have left is.....
Heard this in a monastary some 30 plus years ago.
Enjoy
riverwolf
riverwolf
Ive heard that as well, but how can you cant rid of the I ? I mean, if you dont take into account that you are an I, than yes you will have no thoughts like "I want this" or "I want that" but you also lose the responsibility of being a concious being like "I should be nicer" "I should help others" "I should be more creative"
How about thoughts like "I want to paint more", is it egotistical, in a bad way, to want to be creative, or is it only negative when your desires are materialistic ?
*by the way, "I" love conversing about Existentialism
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I think a lot of this is "bunk" and you know why?? Why don't they interview the guy's wife? The one that had the 4 kids-probably not by choice or with anesthesia or good medical care. The wife that is "waiting on the guy" and and foot. Why don't they catalog the "family happiness"- instead of just the man who lives in that hut at the top of the food chain. Happiness has to do with choice, IMO. If you choose to be homeless and live in your car (I actually know someone doing this)- then you might be happier doing that- than in some other living situation.
Thats a great point. Im not sure, his family was all smiles and laughter, but again, who really knows.
My best friend Kalomo, when we met had no bed. he slept on a a floor with a neck roll pillow. He still to this day, has the old single mattress I gave him 10 years ago. Never complains, just is happy creating music and art.
I think needs are a matter of perception.
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There are also things, which are particular to any individual which make them happy. More accurately, people have passions and things they love to do which give them a sense of purpose. For instance what about the person who provides the cold, hungry, shoeless person with shoes, warm food and clothes. Happiness can come from contributing to the outside world. I personally meditate everyday and this allows me to have a more clear idea of my purpose in this life. It also allows me to be grateful for what I have and shed the oppressive pressure of a profit driven dominating global culture. Breaking those chains is not really about being barefoot in the woods. It is more about an internal change than an external. Or rather, the internal change brings about external changes (good decision making, good intentions etc.) which bring about a sense of freedom, love, well being and happiness.
I agree. I personally really enjoy making music, and I like having the equipment to do that. Could I live without it ? Sure, I guess. It definitly makes me more happy though, and purposeful as I love creation.
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Not needing to be happy to be happy may be one way to be happy. But that is not the Western --and certainly not the American-- way. We grab life by the scruff of the neck and drink it down like a vampire does the blood of a 16 year old girl in an alley. And then we go to the moon. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard. We are never "happy". I reflect on this sometimes when I see tourists who are living a dream of sorts. But you see them doing very mundane things, like shopping, and doing it a little diffidently. They are sometimes fatigued. I think "Well, here you are --- happy?" Happiness is not, as it appears, a consistent state that you can flick on like light and just leave on until the bulb burns out.
And unhappiness is vastly underrated and is, as it turns out, of great social utility. Would Billy Holiday (with whom I share a birthday!) have been worth listening to if she didn't know pain, sorrow and heartache, as in "Good Morning, Heartache"? Was Picasso "happy"? He looks grumpy in every single picture I have ever seen and his love life was wonderfully chaotic, resulting in the splintered, crying women you see in his paintings. Maya Angelou knows why the caged bird sings, and it is not because the bird is happy.
Happiness, romantic love (which not a consistent source of happiness), and the like are all (mostly) Western luxuries in a world of deprivation, hunger and woe. In many places in the world, you don't have the luxury of "falling in love" with someone. You marry him or her because they have the goats you need.
The preamble to the Declaration of Independence memorializes our right to the pursuit of happiness. I submit the pursuit itself is what makes you happy. As that immortal philosopher Matthew McConnaughey said when accepting his Oscar this year: 1) have something/someone to look up to, 2) have something to look forward to and 3) HAVE SOMETHING TO CHASE.
It is the pursuit that brings happiness. It is the reaching that brings happiness. And, as Browning said, your reach should always exceed your grasp or what's a heaven (or someone that looks like heaven!) for? It is not sufficient to sit at the edge of a tropical rain forest and stare at the ocean all day like a mental patient. There must always be something you are looking forward to (such as sitting at the edge of a tropical rain forest and staring at the ocean all day) and something to chase. Once you reach your goal, you have to make a new one right away.
Happiness and its necessary corollary, unhappiness --how can you recognize happiness when you see it if you've never been unhappy?, are in the pursuit of happiness. And that's the American Way -- we just get to chase it. We don't get to have it, at least not in perpetuity. With my upcoming and hopefully happy birthday in mind (chasing it!),I leave you with the words of our greatest living female philosopher, Dolly Parton:
People always comin' up to me and askin'
"Dolly, what's your secret?
With all you do, your attitude
Just seems to be so good
How do you keep it?"
Well, I'm not the Dalai Lama, but I'll try
To offer up a few words of advice.
You better get to livin', givin'
Don't forget to throw in a little forgivin'
And lovin' on the way
You better get to knowin', showin'
A little bit more concerned about where you're goin'
Just a word unto the wise
You better get to livin'.
A girlfriend came to my house
Started cryin' on my shoulder Sunday evening
She was spinnin' such a sad tale
I could not believe the yarn that she was weavin'
So negative the words she had to say
I said if I had a violin I'd play.
I said you'd better get to livin', givin'
Be willing and forgivin'
Cause all healing has to start with you
You better stop whining, pining
Get your dreams in line
And then just shine, design, refine
Until they come true
And you better get to livin'.
The day we're born we start to die
Don't waste one minute of this life
Get to livin'
Share your dreams and share your laughter
Make some points for the great hereafter.
Better start carin'
Better start sharin'
Better start tryin'
Better start smiling
And you better get to livin'...
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