Happiness Is . . .
Well . . .sometimes a birthday cake. But seriously, what is happiness? How do we find it? What are its essential ingredients? Ah, that is the question.
Some people hoard objects. Writers hoard facts, opinions, the apt turn of phrase, the illuminating observation, the unsettling dream. All grist for the mill, we say.
Several years ago, I started saving on my hard drive articles and e-mails that seemed to me particularly cogent, containing kernels of thoughts or issues I might want to explore further. A couple of days ago, I saved an Op-Ed column by David Brooks, writing for the New York Times.
The statement that struck me was this, in which Brooks paraphrases another writer, Arthur Brooks (the two are unrelated), on the subject of happiness. Brooks writes, “. . . the key to happiness is not being rich; it’s doing something arduous and creating something of value and then being able to reflect on the fruits of your labor.”
Brooks’ article was focused, interestingly, not on happiness per se, but on the anger of voters, who see their values violated in this election season. As I opened the Brooks article, however, I perused other files in the same folder and discovered that some time ago I had saved a number of writings on the subject of happiness. Following . . . a little smorgasbord.
“. . .at some point I decided that . . .happiness arose out of all I didn’t want or need, not all I did. . . Not having a car gives me volumes not to think or worry about, and makes walks around the neighborhood a daily adventure. Lacking a cell phone and high-speed Internet, I have time to play ping-pong every evening, to write long letters to old friends and to go shopping for my sweetheart . . .”(Pico Iyer, American author living and writing in Japan, “The Joy Of Less,” New York Times, June 7, 2009)
“Studies suggest that, even in normal conditions, to be happy, humans must feel in control. . . . Eliminate control, and people experience depression, stress and the onset of disease.” (Leonard Mlodinow, Cal Tech professor and writer, “The Limits of Control,” New York Times, June 15, 2009)
“. . .happiness is a function of our expectations — or, as it has been said: ‘Happiness equals reality minus expectations.’” (Erich Weiner, writer, “Lowered Expectations,” New York Times, July 19, 2009)
“Happiness is . . .this feeling of existence, this sentiment of momentary self-sufficiency that is bound up with the experience of time. . . .I think that one can . . . experience this feeling of existence in the experience of love, in being intimate with one’s lover, feeling the world close around one . . .And then it is over. Time passes, the reverie ends and the feeling for existence fades.” (Simon Critchley, author and chair of philosophy at the New School for Social Research, “Happy Like God,” New York Times, May 25, 2009)
Grist for the mill.
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