I read "Flow: The Psychology of Ultimate Experience," by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a while ago. It was based on a study that put beepers on hundreds of people from all walks of life. The beepers would go off at random times, eight times a day. When the beeper sounded, the participant would fill out a form telling what they were doing and how they felt. The result was that participants were happiest when they were fully engaged in an activity that totally consumed their attention and eliminated all self consciousness, that produced a feeling of flow. The activities were not always ones that you would call pleasurable. The ability to pursue and find such activities was not necessarily related to any level of wealth, health, fitness or education. This is not a How-to book, but valuable to think about and recognize those activities that you enjoy because of the flow. With regard to the rich media, I was just in a discussion this morning about how some people may still trust the media as the "Fifth Estate." The problem is that mass media is owned by the same conglomerates that advertise in the media (compromising the content of reporting) and the same conglomerates that control government (compromising again). It makes you wonder why politicians like the President and Jesse Ventura are so rough on the media. Is it just for show? >>> Nancy Sutton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 3/2/2001 2:27:25 PM >>> I have been coming to the conclusion for a long time that happiness is easy, as long as we are willing to change our various forms of additiction to unhappiness, which requires that we know ourselves to some degree. It's the old half full/empty choice and a lot of gratitude. It is laid out in many books, including the latest "How To Be Happy No Matter What" from the "Don't Sweat the Samll Stuff" author; "Santiy, Insanity and Commonsense" by Suarez (I think); "The Handbook to Higher Consciousness" by Keys (sp?) etc., etc. Nancy Western WA --- jeff owens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In Pursuit of Happiness > (Better Living From Plato to Prozac) > Mark Kingwell > > If the history of western civilizations thoughts on > happiness > is of interest then this is the book to read. I > found a lot > of interesting background and a few new ideas. Here > are some > quotes and comments: > > we cannot judge happiness except on the scale > of an entire life. > > This is a useful concept to differentiate between > pleasure > and other short term feelings that are sometimes > called > happiness. > > At one point the book tried to define happiness by > what > it isn't. I found this "ZEN" like approach > complimented > the traditional definitions and provided useful > direction. > > Myth 1 - Happiness is easy. > Myth 2 - You can buy happiness. > Myth 3 - Happiness is simplicity itself. > Myth 4 - Happiness is immoral. > Myth 5 - Happiness is madness. > Myth 6 - Happiness is elsewhere. > Myth 7 - Happiness is your birthright. > Myth 8 - Happiness is fixed. > > Our culture seems to accept these myths at times > without > noticing the contradictions and flaws. We think > happiness is > related to achieving some goal (elsewhere) or that > having > more money is the answer. Of course, they may play > a role > but they are not happiness. > > Much of the book talks about our expectations and > how > that causes problems. For example, if our culture > defines a unrealistic state of happiness and then > encourages > everyone to chase it.. what happens? We have a lot > of > unhappy people thinking happiness is somewhere else. > That is exactly what we have today. > > In the end the author doesn't have any grand > conclusions > and leaves each of us to find our own answers. I > was > a little disappointed by this and felt we do know a > lot about happiness. Oh well, each book has a few > ideas > and we can harvest those and enjoy them. > > If we look at ecology we find it fits here nicely. > The > diversity and chaos is indicated by myth 8 > (happiness > is fixed). The idea of conservation and limits > sneaks > in with myth 2 (you can buy happiness). The idea > that > happiness is elsewhere (myth 6) says we can run away > from > our problems and not connect to the land. In other > words, > we build happiness under our feet. The idea that > happiness > is easy, wicked, or simple all push us towards > irresponsible > actions. The responsible ecological lifestyle is > just > an awareness of how the world works and the limits > we all > face. It isn't hardship and is compatible with our > quest > for happiness. This is one viewpoint anyway. > > One of the chapters talked about solitude and how > most > of us are powerless in the face of large volumes of > information. This condition has appeared in the > last 100 > years and requires that we guard our thoughts and > attitudes > about happiness. Unfortunately, the author did not > provide > and answers, he just described the problem. > > This same idea pops up in many of todays books and > i'm > now reading one with the title "Rich Media, Poor > Democracy). > A review is coming. > > Feel and be aware of this moment. > > jeff > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
