Happy

So I just got done watching a documentary entitled 'Happy' on Netflix. I feel I am a rather odd being, in that some moments I can be very happy and content with life, then the next....not so much. So I have always been kind of fascinated with happiness. I have always known (or thought I had known) what brings me happiness, just achieving and finding it could be hard at times. This documentary brings you from the bayous of Louisiana to the slums of India to the community housing in Denmark and hundred year olds in Okinawa Japan. The film features men and women who study happiness and interview different people around the world about their life and their happiness. While I pretty much knew the route this documentary was going to take, and I believe happiness comes from everything they talked about, it was still nice and one could even say refreshing watching it documented and lived out in front of me.

One of the first interviewee's was an older gentleman who lived in Louisiana and found his happiness in cruisin along the bayou on his boat, being surrounded by nature and wildlife and beautiful sunsets. All his family and friends lived within a however many mile radius and they would come together at least once a week and sit a table full of....crawdads?....and talk and have a good time. This is happiness.

Another family that was interviewed was a single mother living in a cohousing facility in Denmark. She lived in a space shared by a handful of families and everyone kind of took care of and looked out for one another. They would take turns cooking dinner and all gather together to enjoy a meal. The woman said that her life had kind of been hard, living on her own, then she found this cohousing community and it helped her out, it gave her a sense of community. This is happiness.

Another country the documentary visited was Bhutan, where in recent years they have started focusing more on their gross national happiness than their gross national product. This is a country that has said, we don't need the wealthiest people and the most money, we just want to be happy, and that is the kind of place I would want to live. While they have the resources to use their land as a way of economic gain by selling out to India, they would have to lose numerous sacred landmarks and cut down forests and tranquil places, and that is when they measure the gross national happiness v. gross national product. Sometimes the solitude, nature, and historic landmarks are worth more than money can buy. This is happiness.

Okinawa Japan has come to be known as the island with the oldest population. There are too many residents to count that are enjoying life well into their hundreds. And they are a community, they look out for each other, they take care of each other. They practice compassion and love and hard work and community. They all live as a family and come together to dance, to do community projects and to have a good time. When someone in their community goes through a hard time, they are there to pick them up, no questions asked. This unconditional love and community, this is happiness.

In the documentary they obviously interview some young, eager professional that thinks money equates with happiness, and enters the home of a young woman from Japan whose husband died essentially from working too much. While a number of people think they will find happiness in external ways, such as money, status, and possessions it is constantly proven over and over again that happiness is found in relationships, doing something and believing in something bigger than yourself, other people's happiness. It isn't a constant state or one that comes to you....the declaration of independence said it right in that it is a pursuit. Strangely enough, 50% of our happiness is genetics, 10% is made up of our possessions and our circumstances, but 40% of the rest of it is up to us, how we choose to focus our time and energy and how we react to certain situations.

For me, I have always found happiness in nature and, believe it or not, other people. Sometimes, I need my solitude...maybe and probably even more than the average human. Kinda weird, I know, but when i'm stressed, I find a secluded place in nature and just chill (or drive) for a bit. It is home to me and sometimes puts me back together. As much as I sometimes admit that I do not like people (which I should probably work on that) I have found that a little human interaction can do wonders to your mood. I have actually gone days and probably on multiple occasions when I did not talk to another soul. I have also found that on those days, I was most prone to slip into my sad days. One conversation or visit with a friend could turn that whole day around. A day spent with friends and/or family, that sometimes is worth more than any material possession. It is about being in places that you enjoy and with people that you love and having people that love you back. This. This is happiness.