Happiness
What is this compulsive urge to pursue, have and wish others happiness?
In his book The Art of Happiness, The Dalai Lama claims “Whether one believes in religion or not, the very purpose of our life, the very motion of our life is towards happiness.”
But many of us aren’t so sure. In his review [LA Times Jan 1 2006] of Happiness: A History by Darrin M. McMahon, Gordon Marino notes, “As Americans, we have a religious devotion to the idea of our own happiness. We believe that we have a sacred right to pursue that strange bird into the forest of our lives and are even prepared to medicate any condition that gets in the way of the hunt.”
That may be the main thing about our personal and cultural obsession: we think it is our right, and can’t let anything limit or obscure the condition, and should take immediate steps if we aren’t happy “enough.”
Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, a brain researcher, success coach and writer, says a resilient person “avoids wasting energy on regret and unhappiness, and just moves on. [from her article What Can We Learn from Martha Stewart?]
Robert Epstein, PhD (Editor in Chief of Psychology Today magazine) thinks happiness is “probably not a state we should even try to pursue. It seems to emerge as a byproduct of fulfilling activities.”
He adds a pithy quote by Edith Wharton: “If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.”
related pages :
positive psychology
Buddhist psychology
