If happiness is indeed contagious, as this much ballyhooed new report states, does that mean that I have a natural immunity to it?If I were to assemble all my friends at a party, assuming any of them would even come to a party, I think it would look like this. It's true: I have one happy friend. And even she has blue periods.
I'm deeply suspicious of anything that begins with, "Researchers report..." First, how do they define "happy"? Do people define it for themselves? And who, really understanding the world we live in, can actually be happy?
I understand contentment. I get it when someone is up or down, happy or sad. But I think of these as momentary, fleeting conditions. And I admit that I'm a little leery of so-called "happy" people. Or maybe I'm just envious of them.
So does this latest report mean that I need to find new friends -- happy ones -- just so that I'll catch their happiness? The thing is, I love the friends I have. It doesn't matter to me if they are happy, though I'm always pulling for them. It's just that it's not a criterion for friendship. In fact, my closest friendships have been forged by walking through the fires of hell with someone, not by dancing in the streets together.
Where are all of these happy people? Are they taking happy pills? Or are they just wired differently from everyone I know? If they would have me for a friend, would I really be happier myself? And if their happiness is really contagious, why isn't the whole world happy already? Now that's something that might be worth studying.
3 comments:
I think that truly, some people are just born with a more positive outlook than others and those are happier people. And probably, they like to hang out with others like them.
But that's just my take on it.
I'm sure you're right that they tend to stick together because, really, who wants an Eeyore around when they can have a Tigger?
I think we may be born with a sort of happiness quotient, but I suspect that expectations have a lot to do with happiness, too. We (Americans?) tend to raise the bar on ourselves? Anyone have a thought on this?
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