Happiness

A friend sent me a link to a YouTube video by Scott Adams called The Happiness Formula. Adams is the writer and illustrator of the comic strip Dilbert. His Happiness video teaches us everything we need to know (and more—a lot more) about the subject of “how to be happy.” He includes a nice chart with boxes and arrows and the names of brain chemicals.

My brain rejected his video. I believe Adams was an engineer and he takes an engineering approach to the subject of being happy. I’m sure his approach has its merits, but I think he’s overthinking it. I don’t follow his “rules” for happiness and yet I’m reasonably happy (though I’m not without my occasional “blue” day which I suspect happens to everyone).

Today I’m blogging. This will be my third post for the day and it’s not 1 PM yet. I enjoy writing. It’s something that helps keep me happy. Today is a sunny summer day in central Virginia. The front window beside me is open. The back door is open. A floor fan is running, providing me a gentle breeze. Cars pass my house and kids laugh and holler in the park across the street—just a couple of the sounds of summer passing through my window. I have friends to chat with, even if it’s a video chat. I have friends to visit. My needs and wants are simple.

On the shelf beside my computer desk there sits an old book that was given to my brother long ago by our grandmother. The book is titled The Art of Real Happiness and was written by Norman Vincent Peale, D.D., and Smiley Blanton, M.D. It was originally published in 1950. Which is to say, people have been looking for the secret to happiness for a very long time, and for just as long, other people have been offering advice on how to be happy. In fact, a lot of money is made by the purveyors of happiness advice. The pursuit of happiness is the target of all those TV ads. “Use this product,” the announcer says, “and your white sheets will be whiter and your colored clothes will be brighter.” The implication is that brighter clothes will make you happy. “Use this product and you’ll have whiter teeth,” says the announcer, suggesting only losers have normal looking teeth.

Meanwhile, I’ve managed to be, if not ecstatic, then at least content, and I’ve done it the old-fashioned way—without books or flowcharts or analysis. I’m not sure whether I’m lucky or blessed. Maybe I’m a little of both. Whatever the reason, I’ll take it.

If you’re not happy and you want to be happy, I don’t know what to tell you, because you and I are different people. Perhaps very different. It has been said that “folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” I suppose there’s a lot of truth in that.