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There are so many books on happiness these days -- how to get it, keep it, use it, slice it, dice it -- it’s enough to make one feel like happiness is work, or worse, a status symbol. If you don’t believe me look on amazon.com. Is it possible that bliss is now a competitive sport?
The road to happiness, like the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The problem and also the answer is happiness is not so much a destination as it is a decision. Not a willful one, but a mindful one. But what is happiness? Where do we find it and how do we keep it? How dare I say it do we share it? Can we share it? Is happiness contagious?
A podcast on This American Life from last year supports the idea that happiness is a choice. The author Michael Lewis interviews a man who went from being a young Bosnian refugee to a tenured professor at the University of Chicago. His story is inspiring, mostly because his happiness is not based on his circumstances good or bad. The man is just happy. And believe me, he has more than one reason to be unhappy. But he isn’t.
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So at least in theory anyone can be happy. And sometimes the people with the most material possessions are the least happy. Not always, but certainly acquiring things doesn’t guarantee happiness. If it did there’d be a lot more happy hoarders.
Mary Baker Eddy once wrote that ‘Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone but requires all mankind to share it.” (see Science and Health, page 57)
http://christianscience.com/read-online/science-and-health/(chapter)/chapter-iii-marriage#anchor.1.3
The idea that happiness is spiritual to me means that it’s not conditional, or even sectarian. It’s like light, available to all.
I think happiness is a whole bunch of stuff rolled into one. It’s gratitude, humor, a sense of wonder, a willingness to forgive, and to love. Happiness isn’t what we get, it’s what we give to others. I love a good paradox and here’s my favorite one - The most selfish thing a person can do is to be unselfish. If you want to feel good, do something for somebody else. But don't take my word for it. Try it yourself. I guarantee you’ll like it. But remember this way of living can't be gamed, manipulated, played. It only works when it's authentic. When we realize that happy truth -- we don't give to get, we get to give.
