Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
nytimes.com
Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
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Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#2law of headlines
Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#3What does being happy even mean? What does it get you as a goal? I’m not sure it’s even worth chasing.
My favorite view on “happiness” comes from The Oatmeal, How to be perfectly unhappy: https://www.theoatmeal.com/comics/unhappy
It boils down to this: stop chasing happiness or joy or whatever marketing departments have decided you need and their product can provide.
Focus on meaning.
Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#4Family, friends, health, purpose. Even without the latest gadgets and being a millionaire, if you have the love of family and friends you can find happiness. I guarantee you won’t find happiness by reading the NYT all day and getting worked up.
Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#5More and more Americans are living in larger cities than previous generations. I think lack of a connection with a local community is contributing to high stress. I moved down to the Sierra Nevada mountains from Seattle and my anxiety and stress is much lower.
Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#6Happiness is a social phenomenon and can’t be solved by individuals. You can move to your own idea of paradise but if you care about other people your happiness will depend on theirs as well.
Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#7More and more Americans are living in larger cities than previous generations. I think lack of a connection with a local community is contributing to high stress. I moved down to the Sierra Nevada mountains from Seattle and my anxiety and stress is much lower.
Large cities can have very vibrant local communities. I lived in NYC for several years and had very rewarding connections with other people in my same neighborhood, not different from the one you'd expect in a small village.
Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#8Anybody ever watch Steve Cutts, especially the animations he did for Moby? They are crazy depressing. I feel like happiness is exactly what Denis Leary explianed it as. It's a brief moment, like a smoke or a beer.
But on to the videos:
[happiness]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9dZQelULDk
[moby are you lost]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VASywEuqFd8
Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#9What does being happy even mean? What does it get you as a goal? I’m not sure it’s even worth chasing. My favorite view on “happiness” comes from The Oatmeal, How to be perfectly unhappy: https://www.theoatmeal.com/comics/unhappy It boils down to this: stop chasing happiness or joy or whatever marketing departments have decided you need and their product can provide. Focus on meaning.
Your argument perfectly applies to 'meaning' as well, as companies increasingly market their products as life styles, communities, families etc. Someone can focus on meaning and still fall into that exact same trap, which I don't think is helpful either.
I think the problem lies with work. Increasingly, people have to work more for less in order to survive. They have to squeeze more out of meager savings, worry about their health and often have little to no time to actually explore their lives or their communities. Suburbanization has made this aspect worse by making it harder to leave the suburbs and placing people into small bubbles of slowly fermenting restlessness.
Re: Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
#10What does being happy even mean? What does it get you as a goal? I’m not sure it’s even worth chasing. My favorite view on “happiness” comes from The Oatmeal, How to be perfectly unhappy: https://www.theoatmeal.com/comics/unhappy It boils down to this: stop chasing happiness or joy or whatever marketing departments have decided you need and their product can provide. Focus on meaning.
I struggled a lot with purpose until my first son was born. Then life suddenly snapped into perfect clarity. I also had this instant revelation about what "faith" really means to the religious. It was a beautiful feeling to know, without any doubt or waivering confidence what your purpose is. It makes every decision I ever have to make really simple, because it always boils down to what is best for my kids.
Am I "happy"? I dunno. My 10 month old woke me up 5 times last night and as a result today was a stunningly miserable slog. But I have meaning, and that gives me direction and tremendous joy.