new article tagline Summer Happiness
Is Happiness the theme of the summer?
The Book of Happiness
has just been published and it seems that everywhere we look we see
people talking about what happiness really means. An article in the
Financial Times says that the happiest country to live in is Holland
and the new series on happiness on BBC2 makes great claims for the
quality of life for happy people. Maybe the sun shining at last and the
long summer evenings ahead of us mean we are taking a more optimistic
view of the future. I do believe that happiness is in the moment with
the anticipation of what lies ahead. What do you think?
*to comment on this article please click here*
| Comment by: Sarah Blackburn Tue 23rd May,2006 03:49 pm |
My grandmother said that we need 3 things to be happy: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. The first 2 are rooted in the now but the third does look to the future. I think it's the last one that is essential - without the other 2 we can still hope; without hope the other 2 could lose their shine. And hope is an inner quality; the other two are externals. Alternatively, to love whom you are with and to enjoy whatever you happen to be doing could be the answer: change our attitude and be content. But: is happiness therefore a static state? Since it need not be dependent on external factors? That would level us to a bovine condition, in my opinion. Part of being human I think is wanting to improve - which implies a dissatisfaction - is that a productive type of unhappiness? |