Hi Rosana, I loved this whole post but especially the last two paragraphs, where you bring up "the broken knob" from "It's a wonderful life". Wanting and appreciating what I have is a big part of my happiness. It takes some extra work in our part to realize that, though. Unfortunately, now a days with social media, a lot of people compare their happiness with what's out there and that is a big mistake, in my opinion. As you stated it in your post, no knob is the same, we need to learn how to appreciate and be thankful for our unique knob. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much, Antonio! It does take extra work. And as for social media, people usually post their fun times and beautiful vacations but not their difficulties.
Reminds me of when I was at a silent retreat many years ago. Each day, a small group would meet with one of the teachers, and during that time we could talk. One woman mentioned how blissful she'd been feeling and I felt annoyed, because I never felt blissful when meditating. When we met the next day, she said she wasn't feeling as good that day and revealed she had terminal cancer. Made me realize that we never know what people are dealing with!
Of course, that's hard to remember when we see their fun vacation photos and we aren't taking any vacations ourselves. I sound so wise writing all this, but I'm not anywhere near internalizing all the stuff I write, lol!
Yes, I love what Bhutan does! Although apparently they aren't the happiest country (according to studies! I cited a 2018 one here: https://flowerchild.substack.com/p/whats-missing-in-time-change-debate?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fbhutan&utm_medium=reader2), just making that a priority would make such a difference. And maybe it has, given that their happiness has apparently increased. I keep saying "apparently" because I do think it's hard to measure, although I think it's worth trying! And I'm sure the people studying happiness and measuring it know more than I do. ;-)
Hi Rosana, I loved this whole post but especially the last two paragraphs, where you bring up "the broken knob" from "It's a wonderful life". Wanting and appreciating what I have is a big part of my happiness. It takes some extra work in our part to realize that, though. Unfortunately, now a days with social media, a lot of people compare their happiness with what's out there and that is a big mistake, in my opinion. As you stated it in your post, no knob is the same, we need to learn how to appreciate and be thankful for our unique knob. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much, Antonio! It does take extra work. And as for social media, people usually post their fun times and beautiful vacations but not their difficulties.
Reminds me of when I was at a silent retreat many years ago. Each day, a small group would meet with one of the teachers, and during that time we could talk. One woman mentioned how blissful she'd been feeling and I felt annoyed, because I never felt blissful when meditating. When we met the next day, she said she wasn't feeling as good that day and revealed she had terminal cancer. Made me realize that we never know what people are dealing with!
Of course, that's hard to remember when we see their fun vacation photos and we aren't taking any vacations ourselves. I sound so wise writing all this, but I'm not anywhere near internalizing all the stuff I write, lol!
Measuring and pursuing happiness as a nation might make more sense than measure and pursuing individual happiness?
https://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/news/bhutan-gross-national-happiness-index-shows-increase-2015-despite-pandemic
Yes, I love what Bhutan does! Although apparently they aren't the happiest country (according to studies! I cited a 2018 one here: https://flowerchild.substack.com/p/whats-missing-in-time-change-debate?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fbhutan&utm_medium=reader2), just making that a priority would make such a difference. And maybe it has, given that their happiness has apparently increased. I keep saying "apparently" because I do think it's hard to measure, although I think it's worth trying! And I'm sure the people studying happiness and measuring it know more than I do. ;-)
Beautiful piece Rosana. I would say I’m looking for calm and contentment rather than happiness. Happiness seems too...showy for me.
Thanks, Adam! Perhaps our ideas of happiness evolve as we get older. That would be interesting to write about, too!
I think this movie answers a lot of questions. It's one of my favorites! https://www.thehappymovie.com/
Oh, I'll have to check it out!