What exactly is happiness anyway?
My happy place.
What Actually IS Happiness?
I don’t know how to say this 😬 - there’s a conversation I’ve been avoiding. Maybe I’m afraid of not knowing the answer. Maybe I’m afraid that there is no answer. But I think it’s probably about time we tackled it…
… What the hell does happiness mean anyway?
It’s the reason I’m so drawn to the project. All my life, I’ve wanted to be happy. I’ve wanted to love what I do so that I never work another day.
And I think that’s one of the reasons that the “happy lawyer” project is getting such traction. A lot of us want to be happy. “Happy” is such a charged term for us and for our society. I think it probably has a different (and important) definition for each person who thinks about it.
But we still need to do our best to define it, since we need to know what it is to move towards it. Let’s start with Merriam-Webster which defines ‘happiness’ as:
a state of well-being and contentment
a pleasurable or satisfying experiences
😁😊
It’s this first definition that resonates most with me. Personally, I don’t expect to just jump from pleasurable/satisfying experience to pleasurable/satisfying experience. I think it’s impossible in life to have only pleasurable or satisfying experiences (though I certainly still want them - hence the photo I've included of me in my happy place).
When I say “I want to be happy”, I think I’m saying:
I want to be in a state of well-being and be content with my life and I want my life to contain all the foundational elements that supports those two simple concepts. That means I’m looking for fulfillment, a sense that I matter and that my work matters, confidence in who I am and what I do, meaningful and deep relationships, belonging, and community.
A lot of that describes my life and my satisfaction with my life. So is it JUST what’s going on in your life that matters for happiness?
I don’t think so.
Both definitions require a certain emotional state. The first requires you feel content. The second requires you feel pleasure or satisfaction.
Is this the definition of Happy you’ll use for the Happy Lawyer?
Sort of.
I want YOU to be happy, and I don't expect your definition of happy to mirror mine.
I’m not looking for people to run around being little clones of me. 👨🏻🤝👨🏻👨🏻🤝👨🏻👨🏻🤝👨🏻 You don’t need to aim for my goals. I’d much rather you aim for yours.
Although it feels scary to create a program or path where each person will have a different outcome, I think it’s important. So I’ll take the risk on that.
So, what are your goals? What’s your definition of happy?
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