- Got in my 3 miles last night. Can't remember the last time I ran 3 days in a row; my legs were feeling it towards the end.
- Listened to an interesting podcast during my run about The Happiness Project - basic conclusion seemed to be that we are happiest when we are totally focused on the task we are engaged in. The more mind wandering that occurs, the less happiness is seen. Probably have a post on that, but not enough time to write it today.
- Mostly packed for the trip today, although the car remains to be loaded and I need to tie up a few loose ends.
- J and I split a yummy bottle of La Crema chardonnay last night while packing for the trip. Although I wished we'd had some sushi to go with it, I still managed to down my fair share (salmon and this chard are one of the best flavor combinations in the world, at least in my opinion). So now I'm paying for it this morning...stupid headache. Or maybe stupid me...
- We'll be traveling for the next few days, so I'm not how much posting I'll be doing.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Bullet Friday
Not enough time to crank out a full post today, so in bullets:
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7 comments:
RE: Happiness Project. I'll buy that, to a point. If someone sends him one, my boss e-mails out "wisdom" quotes to the part of my company (about half) that's under his umbrella. This one went out awhile back: Dissatisfaction and discouragement are not caused by the absence of things but the absence of vision...attributed to anonymous. I like that. Especially the part of me that believes you can't buy happiness (though you CAN rent it for a little while). If we never let our minds wander, though, how will we ever come up with anything new?
-David
To play the devil's advocate, if your task at hand is to be creative and find a new or different solution for something, then wouldn't that sort of be the same thing as letting your mind wander? So you can stay on topic by letting your mind wander, you are just letting it wander within some fairly restricted parameters. Or, could you not set aside certain time just to let your mind wander? OK, so that's maybe not very likely to happen with all the craziness of life with kids, but there are ways to make that happen.
As for not being able to buy happiness - one of the studies I linked to a while ago had an interesting discussion about how flawed humans are in estimating the kinds of things will make them "happy" and how long that happiness will last. This sort of falls in line with your idea that you can rent happiness for a while, but it doesn't last. The cliche is that happiness is supposed to come from within, but I think maybe you have to come to that point after you've ruled everything else out, including figuring out that the absence of things isn't what causes the unhappiness.
Serious ramblings for Sunday morning, right?
Good ramblings.
Here's another quote then, attributed to Eleanore Roosevelt (and a few others, it turns out): Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.
Or, adapted to verse:
Don't go searching for happiness
'Cause happiness can't be found
Just be busy about your business
And you'll find it comes around
My goal in recent years has been to recognize when I'm happy, and enjoy it while it's happening. I find that I can look back on a moment or an episode or a day or a week and realize that I had a good time. I really struggle to know it while I'm in it.
-David
Happiness may be a by-product, but what is it a by-product of? I can see how it might be one of those things you can't come at with a direct goal, but what are the things you should be doing that will create that by-product? Or maybe that's where you fall back on the idea that everyone has to figure that out for him or herself.
I'm with you on trying to identify happiness, joy, contentment, etc. whenever you stubmle across it. That's part of why I started writing here - it helps me remember the times I have identified it, and reminds me to keep a lookout for that sort of stuff in the future. It helps reset my baseline when I start trending negative, which I've noticed happening more than I'd like.
What I take the quote to mean is that when you're busy doing what you're supposed to be doing (fulfilling your responsibilities to yourself, your family, your God, your work, your community, your world), happiness will result.
That requires one thing and presupposes another.
It requires that you stay busy. And I find I'm most unhappy when I'm at loose ends...especially at work. Typically, it means I'm avoiding something I know I need to do, and that's the other part.
The quote presupposes that you know what it is that you're supposed to be doing. I think that's the hardest part.
Perhaps happiness is a barometer for whether we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. If you're unhappy, it's time to try something else. Maybe not something dramatically else, but something other than what's going on at the time. Either that, or re-devote yourself to your existing path, so that it's, in effect, something new.
I think joy is something else, in large part chemical. But that's a completely different train of thought.
-David
Re: requiring you stay busy. To an extent, I completely agree with this. Not having responsibilities and goals leaves me nervous, tired and unproductive. But at the same time, it's easy to get so busy that you don't have time to stop and enjoy what's going on. And in that situation, it may not be that you are happy, just that you are too busy to think about whether you are happy or not. But I guess that could be it's own form of happiness maybe?
Re: knowing what you are supposed to be doing. Hah, yeah, that is the million dollar question, isn't it? Sort of like trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up...
I like the idea of happiness as a barometer, although I think sometimes maybe it just takes a change in perspective, as opposed to a change (or even a rededication) in path.
Joy v. happiness. Hmmmm...we might have to have that conversation over some jack in a few weeks!
Yeah, I'm still wondering what I want to be when I grow up. This topic, and its effect on happiness, has been on my mind a lot lately, actually.
And yes, I'm absolutely intersted in some Jack and philosophy. Joy may result. We can only hope...
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