The Pursuit of Happiness: Are We Responsible?
The search for happiness is back.
Increasingly chronicled in newspapers, blogs, books and TV, finding your bliss is finding its way once again into our conversations and our consciousness.
“Many of us think we have a responsibility to be happy, but that’s insane,” says Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World. “It’s why we Americans suffer from what’s called ‘the unhappiness of not being happy.’”
Nonetheless, mountains have been trekked, wisdom imparted, and the source of our current distress identified: “Greed. Insatiable human greed.”
That anti-Gordon Gekko echo comes from the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where the Prime Minister has declared greed to be the cause of the current global economic meltdown, and by extension, our great global unhappiness. “We need to think Gross National Happiness,” insists the Prime Minister.
Gross National Happiness is the Bhutanese government’s official alternative to what it considers the “broken promise” of Gross National Product, the traditional measure of a country’s economic output and worth.
Last year, Bhutan adopted a new Constitution centered on Gross National Happiness, with agriculture, transportation, and foreign trade programs now being judged not by their economic benefits, but by the happiness they produce.
“Essentially, I agree with the Bhutanese Prime Minister,” says Eric Weiner, who visited Bhutan to learn about GNH first-hand. “But I think that the source of our unhappiness is expectations. Greed fulfilled makes us ‘happy’ for awhile, but when our expectations are no longer met, we’re miserable.”
That same sentiment was also expressed by the actor Michael J. Fox, who traveled to Bhutan for his TV special, “Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.” Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease 18 years ago, Fox was intrigued by Gross National Happiness, and offered his own take on personal happiness: “Your happiness grows in direct proportion to your acceptance, and in inverse proportion to your expectations.”
Tell us what you think: Do we have a responsibility to be happy? Is human greed really the cause of our discontent? Would an official policy of Gross National Happiness work in the U.S.?
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Pursuit of Happiness
I don’t believe we have a responsibility to be happy, but I do believe we are, in large part, responsible for whether we are happy. Only we can control our attitude, our actions, and our reactions.
Scott Joy | 7 months, 1 week ago
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Associate Business Systems Analyst
Scott,
I couldn’t agree more with you.
Brent Rogers | 6 months, 3 weeks ago
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Pursuiy of happines
Hi, thanks for the opportunity, Of course happiness and the lack of it is solely our responsability due to the fact that when u accept life but have hopes and good faith, everything falls into place. Even a past choice can bring u unhappines today but again with acceptance & faith u got it all.
Rosa | 7 months ago
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Life Coach
I think that the only responsibility we have to be happy is that which we have to ourselves. I owe it to myself to be happy – life is too short to be anything but. Despite what we watch on the news and read in the press, the world is full of good people, people who truly want to make a difference to the lives of others. We have it within our inner power to experience the world in all its beauty, in all its glory and we can choose to live a life of happiness or a life of misery. I know what I choose!!
Sharon Chisholm | 7 months ago
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just me and those with me
Happiness comes with trust and faith, faith beyond knowing, but living. All things always work out for the good, but can you believe this? Can you have faith in this? Do you know This? If you do or if you can you see that everything is perfect, and your happiness will never be snuffed out.
Jacob Sevier | 7 months ago
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true happiness comes from doing something worth wh
i think alot of people try and fill the void in there lives with superficial and temporary solutions. we seek fulfillment in needing despirately to be wanted and loved by the oposite sex, in which case we are more focused on having them lust after us than actually evaluating if they even make you happy. this often leads to people staying in unhealthy relationships, stuck in the mind set ‘ if he can just see how good i am to him he’ll love me, then i will be happy). NOT TRUE!!! Relying on others for your own happiness will never work. we will only get self fullfillment and true happiness when we give purpose to our lives and do something worthwhile. And for this we are 100% responsible for our happiness!
Laura Davids | 7 months ago
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happiness is everyone's ultimate goal
all of us, no matter what we are doing, are acting (or not acting) because we think that action will bring us happiness. we want the things we want because we think they’ll make us happy.
if the pursuit of happiness is the root cause of our life’s entire activities, surely we have already assumed the responsibility for it?
if you equate happiness with getting what you want, you limit your ability to be happy.
if happiness was in the house/husband/promotion/child/respect, that thing would bring the same amount of happiness to everyone. happiness is the feeling within of total satisfaction, a state of wanting nothing more. it is contained within you. we have the power to change what makes us happy because we set our own goals and have the ability to reflect back on our own thoughts and actions. you can decide the circumstances that bring about your own happiness. the responsibility for your happiness is therefore entirely your own.
kv | 7 months ago
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maneger
Happiness Iam very happy to here your coment.
If you will send to me more of them by using my E-mail addres it will be good.
zawadi makongoro | 6 months, 1 week ago
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Pursuit of Happiness
While I’m in general agreement with sentments expressed, no one has defined “Happiness”. I suggest it to be a term relevant to the individual’s current sate of mind, but having little to sustain it unless it is based on solid spiritual values. So where then does one start? Christ promised forgiveness but that is conditional on our forgiving “those that trespass against us”. Remember, this is the starting point. We must deliberately and consciously forgive otheres, then we earn God’s forgiveness. But we must not forget to forgive ourselves! Once completed, we have perfect freedom, but with responsibility. We will have obliterated all the baggage and self-hate we have carried around for years, and can now find our place in God’s plan for us. With anxiety and doubt gone, we can enjoy the happiness that true freedom brings.
William Needham | 6 months, 1 week ago
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Oliver Twist | 6 months ago
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