What Are You So Happy About?
It has been said before that CherryBombs get along amazingly well considering how different we are from each other. CherryBombs as a group span generations, cultures and socio-economic … whatever. I never did know what that meant. The point is, although we generally originate from North America, and we all love to read, outside of those points we don’t have much in common. Or do we?
While randomly clicking my way across the internet recently I came across a series of articles from Time Magazine on the study of happiness. Here’s the first link I stumbled on, in case you are interested in following the bouncing ball. Ironically, although many studies have been done down through the ages on unhappy people, the idea of studying why so many people are generally happy seems to be a fairly recent one. Sounds pretty backwards to me. Anyway, the articles had much to say about the state of happiness, including the question of just how much control we have over it. Some say that happiness works like personality, and that to some extent it’s preordained. Which doesn’t mean that good or bad events are preordained, just how we handle them. One thing I really did agree with is that most people have a kind of median happiness, a general level that they tend to return to eventually, even after thrilling or devastating events.
What does this have to do with CherryBombs? I think that one of the biggest things we all have in common is that we are generally happy people. I don’t mean annoyingly perky; centered might be a better word. By and large, all things being equal, taking everything into consideration and all those other stock phrases (did I miss any?) we are a fairly content group. We have all gone through, or are currently going through, tough times; but we keep returning to our median state of being, generally, positive. We like being happy and, in spite of whatever else is going on we don’t give in, but, rather, we keep trying to get back there. The B&G is kind of like our lighthouse in that respect: a promise of dry ground, a place to rest if only for a short time, and the knowledge that we aren’t alone. Not so surprisingly, one of the things that came out of all the studies is the importance of social contact. Well, we already knew that, didn’t we? That’s why we’re here. There also seems to be some connection between happiness and a willingness to be distracted. That is, even while going through bad times, a predominantly happy person will still occasionally laugh, smile, be happy for other people and just plain think about other things from time to time. Every CherryBomb knows how important that is. And while we enjoy the margaritas, chandeliers, and poles to swing on, I don’t believe anyone here confuses things with happiness.
What’s your take on this? Do you think you are preordained to be a happy person or is it a choice you’ve made?
108 comments October 12th, 2008