On happiness
So,here is what Wikipedia says about happiness:
Of course there are other gazillion resources on the subject, but by reading this, happiness sounds like a bottle of beer with one of those popup-sound-novelty-opening mechanisms.You know, you open the beer,it makes the *POP* sound....aaaaand you're happy :). But something that crossed my mind several times in the past couple of days is that happiness is such a relative thing that it is really hard to put it in a sentence and capture the meaning of the real deal.Don't get me wrong, Wikipedia has it right there, it's all true, it is just that one would have to think about concrete examples of happiness to understand it, and that is the moment when it all gets twisted.
And when I write about happiness I can't help but to think of a business trip I took to Kinshasa, DR Congo in 2007. I remember many great things from there, it was an experience of a lifetime for me, but what I remember the most is that the people there seemed very nice, very proud and very happy.I mean they have so many problems with economy, politics, and of course, the quality of life is much worse then in Europe, and when it comes to Kinshasa, back then it was a city with 8 million people where a big,big part of them was living in the slums often without electricity, proper pipelines......So there I was, this skinny, non-shaved dude in cargo pants driving in a jeep with a couple of colleagues, all stressed out about how will the new software installation go, and then there were the local people standing next to the road smiling those beautiful smiles of theirs, standing tall and straight.
They seemed way happier then me.Way,way happier.
And it made me wonder,and it should make everybody wonder: are we happy? I mean, srsly, are we?
I will not even try to get a definition of what happiness is, as I already said it is a very relative category, and I am no philosopher/psychologist/zen-master.However, in my not-so-humble opinion, each one of us should ask himself/herself what is happiness for us? What is that which needs to happen or exist to make us happy? Money? Job? Love? .......Cookies? For some rich people it might be a brand new car with 18 inch rims and a Jacuzzi in the trunk, and for some sick people it might be a life without a numbing physical pain, a physical peace so that they could get a good night's sleep.
For me this was not an easy question,and I had to undergo some serious changes in my life to move towards what I think will make me happier, but nevertheless I think that everyone should do this.The hard part is to bring yourself to asking the question,the harder part is finding the right answer,the hardest part is to do something about it :)
And yes,happiness can be as easy as being a cookie monster in the midst of cookies:
Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.
Of course there are other gazillion resources on the subject, but by reading this, happiness sounds like a bottle of beer with one of those popup-sound-novelty-opening mechanisms.You know, you open the beer,it makes the *POP* sound....aaaaand you're happy :). But something that crossed my mind several times in the past couple of days is that happiness is such a relative thing that it is really hard to put it in a sentence and capture the meaning of the real deal.Don't get me wrong, Wikipedia has it right there, it's all true, it is just that one would have to think about concrete examples of happiness to understand it, and that is the moment when it all gets twisted.
And when I write about happiness I can't help but to think of a business trip I took to Kinshasa, DR Congo in 2007. I remember many great things from there, it was an experience of a lifetime for me, but what I remember the most is that the people there seemed very nice, very proud and very happy.I mean they have so many problems with economy, politics, and of course, the quality of life is much worse then in Europe, and when it comes to Kinshasa, back then it was a city with 8 million people where a big,big part of them was living in the slums often without electricity, proper pipelines......So there I was, this skinny, non-shaved dude in cargo pants driving in a jeep with a couple of colleagues, all stressed out about how will the new software installation go, and then there were the local people standing next to the road smiling those beautiful smiles of theirs, standing tall and straight.
They seemed way happier then me.Way,way happier.
And it made me wonder,and it should make everybody wonder: are we happy? I mean, srsly, are we?
I will not even try to get a definition of what happiness is, as I already said it is a very relative category, and I am no philosopher/psychologist/zen-master.However, in my not-so-humble opinion, each one of us should ask himself/herself what is happiness for us? What is that which needs to happen or exist to make us happy? Money? Job? Love? .......Cookies? For some rich people it might be a brand new car with 18 inch rims and a Jacuzzi in the trunk, and for some sick people it might be a life without a numbing physical pain, a physical peace so that they could get a good night's sleep.
For me this was not an easy question,and I had to undergo some serious changes in my life to move towards what I think will make me happier, but nevertheless I think that everyone should do this.The hard part is to bring yourself to asking the question,the harder part is finding the right answer,the hardest part is to do something about it :)
And yes,happiness can be as easy as being a cookie monster in the midst of cookies:
...or as tricky as an answer some people will never find.
From time to time I find myself thinking about the people I met in Kinshasa, and how I changed during that trip.And every time I do so, it helps me to keep my feet on the ground and my bearing straight. Being happy is a part of being alive, a part of living a full life, and if happiness comes to you easily, you can consider yourself lucky. If not, read the text once again. Somewhere in there is a sentence that explains it all ;).
Happiness is overrated!.. I love sorrow sooo much.. I enjoy it.. with jazz&blues.. and rain on the window.. those are the most beautiful days.. that is me!.. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to be happy, it's in all those little things we might not notice or appreciate enough like someone's smile, kindness, warm hug or honest chat... I'm happy to make and to see other people happy. Simple as that. :)
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