Monday, December 22, 2008

The Happiness Project




Today, while looking for something on the internet, I came across something that I found very interesting. It was called the Happiness Project. It seems that a professor from Yale had started her own Happiness project, where she spent a year testing every hypothesis, principle, theory that she could find. She says she tried everything "from Aristotle or St. Therese or Martin Seligman or Oprah" and she blogged about the challenge of being happier, and other people became interested in it and started their own happiness project. You can even email her and get her resolution chart. She has suggestions on how to get started--pick a "life symbol", the symbol you adopt for yourself and for your own happiness project. I signed right up--I have decided to start my own happiness project. I am still considering my symbol.
But it got me to thinking. Exactly what makes people happy? Is it money, is it having things, a great job, a big house, the newest gadget? Is it being thin, being famous, being smart?
And then I got to thinking about the Marvelous Macy. She's only 5, and 5-year-olds are supposed to be happy. Her dad likes to take her places when she has a good week at school--they go to Incredible Pizza, Chuck E Cheese, ice skating, the movies. And I got to say, I like to take her places too. Because she is FUN! But Macy is happy in the bathtub--and she doesn't even need bubbles, or candles--she just likes the water! You can fill a tub up and that girl just loves it!
And, in many ways, Macy is lucky. She has a dad who adores her, she has my daugher, who will love her like her own, she has lots of cousins and "grandmas and grandmothers" and Mimi and Mr. Lynn. But that little girl also has her share of heartache. Just before she goes to sleep, she misses her mother. The marvelous Macy doesn't live with her mom, she doesn't even see her that often, and Macy's mom doesn't even call that much. And this adorable little 5-year old doesn't understand. Well, none of us understand. She has experienced things in her life that no one should have to experience, and especially not a child.
And yet, for the most part, the Marvelous Macy is happy and she spreads happiness to those around her. I mean, I took her to the zoo here in Denver, and we saw a new baby giraffe, and a hippopotamus, we saw elephants, we saw sea lions, we saw a rhinocerous, and we saw gorgeous Christmas lights. But what did Macy like best? Well, to be honest, she liked the turtles. The ordinary, everyday variety of turtle, too, not even the giant sea turtles. We must have spent 2 hours in that sweltering rain forest, looking at the turtles. (It was sweltering because it was 15 degrees outside and we were dressed for that, not the tropics.) And I found it delightful, because she found it delightful. And I learned that it is not the big adventures in life that make us happy, but the small, everyday pleasures. The joy of spending time with the marvelous Macy, the precious ER. The joy of visiting my son and his wife and seeing their menagerie of animals. The joy of the crisp winter air, and the joy of sunshine in below 0 tempertures.
So, I am starting my own Happiness Project. I think the idea is intriguing, and worth some thought.

1 comment:

jewels said...

You are a great blogger! and you area great gift to me! I love the Happiness Project idea. I think it's a great idea. And how marvelous is Macy!