Latest Essay: A Very Short Essay on Happiness

Latest List: Joyful Pieces of Popular Music

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LATEST ESSAY:

A Very Short Essay on Happiness

What was it Mr Micawber said? 'Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery.'

There is great veracity in this vaguely socialistic sentiment from Dickens' most autobiographical novel; however, the getting of happiness would seem to involve just a little more than the marginal avoidance of penury. The extent to which happiness is a typical or actually rather more rare state of mind has seemingly always occupied us. Is my 'happy' state indeed simply one of elevated or asymptomatic mood, with the human condition rather more rooted in the dull, plodding absence of euphoria that is more appropriate to the evolutionary survival  of a biologically young species?

However, I would like to think we might all agree that happiness is to be very highly valued, at least as the oil for the existential wheels of our spoilt Western lives. As both Aristotle and the Dalai Lama have, I believe, correctly taught us, the central meaning of our lives is the pursuit of happiness, particularly if it is accompanied by kindness and good deeds (indeed, it may be impossible without them). And if you find this 'pursuit' unedifying or undignified, then identifying the sources of happiness in our lives is a sound alternative. I do not quite adhere to the Zen notion of 'letting go', of resigning peacefully to the individual limitations of life's moments, but Buddhism's concentration on the here and now holds powerful and measurable meaning for me, with its compassionate view of human foible.

Without happiness, our short allotted time on this earth becomes an exercise in continual futility, a kind of gruelling survival course without reward. The religious among us might disagree: happiness may await us elsewhere. As a humanist-atheist I must live in the here and now, seeking happiness where it exists or can be detected. The days when I am not happy are my own little hell on earth. My happiness is heaven bestowed; a gift to be perceived continuously or....even better... discovered lurking when little expected.

One caveat: happiness is at its best when acting as a sometime antidote to other no less useful emotions: fear, pride, lust and the like. One wonders what great artistic works might have been denied us, for example, had unhappiness been less common throughout the ages.

It may ultimately be futile to perceive happiness as a commodity that can be audited and added to......I am happiest when I feel valued and free, neither of which can be easily achieved by design......but here in any case are my own twelve kernels of happiness. Please feel free to disagree passionately. My apologies in advance for being quite so deliberately sweet; I'm in a good mood and the Ruby writing mantra is being put on hold for today.

• Live for the moment as often as you can remember to do so (this is not easy!); don’t dwell too much on the past.....don't plan ahead quite so much
• The glass is usually half full. Do count those blessings.
• Immerse yourself in something you love doing and that seems to make time melt away (as I am doing now).
• Concentrate on the positives in your work and career and try forget the rest (you will fail, but give it a go).
• Treat yourself occasionally.......but not to the point of spoiling the child within.
• Act happy: sing, laugh, lark about a bit
• Be a small part of something bigger and more important than you, whether it’s your work or some other enterprise. Contribute and sleep easy at night.
• Exercise within your own limits and eat and drink as well as you possibly can.
• Vary your regime a bit.......be spontaneously spontaneous.
• Be kind: always.
• Have something to look forward to. Anticipation is a wonderful drug.
• Audit the everyday things that make you happy........clean sheets on the bed, the smell of baking bread, your cat lying in the sun, the laughter of your children........

And to end: these are my other favourite quotes about happiness (to go along with that of the estimable Wilkins Micawber).

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open-
John Barrymore

Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life-
Omar Khayyam

Latest list:

Joyful Pieces of Popular Music

Isn't She Lovely?   Stevie Wonder
What A Wonderful World   Louis Armstrong
Feeling Good  Nina Simone
Lovely Day Bill Withers
Sweet Disposition   The Temper Trap
Happy  Pharell Williams
Finally Ce Ce Peniston
Oh! What a Beautiful Morning   from Oklahoma
Top of the World   The Carpenters
Don't Stop Me Now   Queen