Not sure if I’m delusional or if it’s just too simple, but after a lot of tossing and turning, a few mighty unpleasantries and bouts of navel gazing, self-flagellation and dangerous introversion – I’ve decided to be happy.
Sounds simple enough.
Frankly, I had no idea at this wise age that it was as simple as choosing happiness. Happiness, I thought, was an outcome; something that you were bequeathed based on events outside of your control.
Broody, creative types thrive on an eternal state of irrationality and unhappiness. It’s the fuel for their makings. Who ever met a happy, untortured writer or artist?
Turns out I may be wrong. Happiness can be as simple as a choice.
Happiness researcher Shawn Achor, a proponent of positive psychology and author of books including The Happiness Advantage, says: ”What I want people to realise is happiness can be a choice, and it’s something you can practice.”
“Happiness, like any other discipline, requires focus and effort. Without deliberate focus happiness can be elusive,” he said in an interview at a World Happiness Summit (there really is such a thing) in Miami and later widely published.
Achor added that being unhappy isn’t a failure. “It’s just a temporary state that can be remedied. Part of the remedy is making the choice to continue movement towards your potential.”
I’ve decided it’s bloody exhausting to think too much. It’s tiring to care what others think. I’ve long been a fan of a quote attributed to Oscar Wilde: what people say about me is none of my business.
This choosing happiness thing is new to me – I must remind myself daily and honestly, I’ll be faking it til I make it.
And before anyone expects some perky, bouncy reimagining of me – the happiness is for me – a coping mechanism, perhaps.. It’s about an inner calm with a side of I don’t care. I choose not to care.
As it happens, there’s research out there to support that people who accept things at face value and don’t critically analyse and search for truth (the instincts of a good journalist, by the way) are happier.
Not only that, but I’ve read that happiness is the single greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy. About 25% of job success based on intelligence and technical skills, while 75% of long-term job success is based on your ability to be jolly and optimistic.
Happiness pusher Achor says apathy, standing still and letting the world break you –that’s what needs to be avoided. Maintain the momentum towards your potential. One could add the importance of knowing your purpose – but that’s an exploration for another day.
I’m not sure I’m ready to be a poster child for happiness: I haven’t drunk all the Kool-Aid yet. But happiness sure does beat the alternative.