Happy Can Of Worms

Joi Ito's been talking about happiness on his blog and what makes people happy. I've blogged over here at We Quit Drinking, asking people to write about the happiest person they know.

The whole notion of happiness seems a big can of worms. Defining happiness is hard enough, but then to "reverse engineer" the lives of certain happy people you know to get a clue as to why they are happy ... not so easy. I know some very UNHAPPY people and find it easier to make some assertions about what they are doing in their lives that they might want to fix. But I need to ruminate on this for awhile.

Here are some links about what makes people happy.

No surprise here -- they surround themselves with family and friends, they keep busy, they FORGIVE easily.

The happiest people spend the least time alone. They pursue personal growth and intimacy; they judge themselves by their own yardsticks, never against what others do or have.

"Materialism is toxic for happiness," says University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener. Even rich materialists aren't as happy as those who care less about getting and spending.

Because the December holidays are friend- and family-oriented, they painfully reveal the intimacy missing in some lives, Diener says. Add in the commercial emphasis — keeping up with the Joneses and the Christmas enjoyed by the Joneses' kids — "and it's a setup for disappointment," he says.

And here's a link to a picture of "1 Happy Blonde" which seems to me to be a picture, oddly, of 2 happy blondes, but -- go figure.