happy reading

Last semester in a discussion in my graduate authorship course, a student made a distinction between being "happy" and being "content," and told the class that there's a such thing as "happiness studies" in the academy now. Interested, I was I was. Happiness, apparently, is ephemeral while contentedness is lasting, at least according to this student, so one should aspire to be content with life rather than to be happy all the time because to do the latter almost guarantees failure.

But think about the times when you realize you're happy. It may be when you're having a great time with wonderful people or when you take the time to reflect on things that are going your way. I find that I recognize happiness most when it's a state of being rather than a momentary occurrence. To say, "I'm happy," means that one is generally happy with things as they are. Contentedness seems to me to be a few hairs shy of happiness and more of a feeling one gets when one has settled in some way.

So then I come across this book review of three recent books devoted to the subject. I give you this on which to chew:

It is tempting to make fun of happiness books: they are such an easy target, soft and plump, just asking to be pinched. The new ones have the imprimatur of science on observations that have been made for centuries: money can’t buy happiness; human beings need social bonds, satisfying work and strong communities; there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so; a life based entirely on the pursuit of money and pleasure ultimately becomes pleasureless. Layard and Martin’s work, however, has the virtue of asking readers to think about why it is that, though we know what makes us happy, we consistently organize our lives and make choices in such a way that makes us unhappy.

What happens to people who study happiness? Are they so ultra-aware of their own states of being that they convince themselves they're happy? Or do they go home and beat their wives? (All three authors featured in the review are male.) What do they do when they're unhappy? Are any of them on antidepressants?

Here's something that makes me happy: I bought a copy of Bark Magazine today and smiled at the photos of the smiling dogs. My favorite is Murphy on page 2.