Since Drew and I became parents, we don’t get to see movies in a theater nearly as often as we used to. And I’m kind of lame about watching them in one sitting at home. I always fall asleep on the couch, so every movie is usually a two-parter, no matter how much I’m enjoying it.
Last week we watched the documentary HAPPY. Have any of you seen it?
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/11335940 w=640&h=360]
The film profiles several different people from all kinds of lifestyles and communities, with one thing in common: They’re all happy.
HAPPY gives us a chance to explore the “why” behind some of this feel goodness, and introduces us to positive psychology, a field where happiness is actually studied. As some of the researchers pointed out in the movie, so much work has been done to study depression and anxiety, yet some people still think studying happiness is weird or implausible. If you can study what ails you, why wouldn’t you be able to study what makes you awesome?
The movie features some interesting concepts, including “flow,” which I love, and takes us through some identical twin research that indicates that 50% of our happiness levels are genetic. We seem to have a happiness “set point” that we return to following life events that have us at emotional highs or lows.
There was an Okinawan phrase mentioned in the film that really spoke to me – “ichariba chode.” It means, “though we meet but once, we are friends for life.” Don’t you love when that happens? The instant connection and bond that you can feel with some people after meeting them for the very first time? I want more of that.
There was also a dark side to the film, where I learned about “karoshi,” which is a Japanese phenomenon of death from being overworked. It’s an actual legal cause of death. How insane is that? It’s happening here too, though – workaholism. I get sucked into my own work too much sometimes. I think that’s why I had a migraine on Friday. Drew pointed out that I was making a note about karoshi for this blog post while I was watching something about someone dying from working too much. The irony wasn’t lost on me.
I think some of the happiness exercises that I practice most are taking moments to express gratitude for what I have, and being self-aware so that I’m doing more of the things that make me happy and less of the things that don’t.
Since we’ve watched the movie, we’ve been trying to sit together at the end of the day for a gratitude exercise and name one thing that made us happy that day. Nathaniel always comes up with the best ones, like “Seeing that orange dog.” Do you have any happiness rituals or practices that you do regularly?