Happiness

"Americans have always had a thing about happiness. We all have certain unalienable rights, declares our Declaration of Independence, among them "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

So then, a couple of centuries into the chase, how are we doing?

Alas, only so-so. Just a third (34%) of adults in this country say they're very happy, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey. Another half say they are pretty happy and 15% consider themselves not too happy. These numbers have remained very stable for a very long time.

...the most robust correlations of all those described in [the Pew Research] report are health, income, church attendance,
being married and, yes, being a Republican. Indeed, being a Republican is associated not only with happiness, it
is also associated with every other trait in this cluster. Even so, the factor that makes the most difference in
predicting happiness [is] being in good health."

Pew Research Report on Happiness

Socrates' Eudaomonia:
Positive Psychology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology
Tanha: Grasping, Addictive behavior as root cause of unhappiness:
Thomas Aquinas:
How Happy Are You? test



Ultimate happiness, aka Nirvana, as in Buddha's Victory, lies in freedom from all addictions, including addiction to life itself. Now that's a challenge!

How do you feel about praise? Not praise in the sense of personal praise from one person to another but praise in the spiritual, religious sense of counting your blessings, singing the praises of life, beauty, God, in the sense of regarding things precisely as they are, precisely as they are not? Can we objectively stand in this momen, suspend our judgements, and say YES YES YES?

Praise, Chant the Names of God, Count our Blessings, practice seeing, believing, BEING Beauty and Love. What has this felt so hokey and embarrassing for so long? WHY has this felt icky? Thank Yoga, Art, my teachers, my loves, et al, for removing this fear from me.