The hag-fish is some kind of prehistoric looking fishy, eely kind of thingy that has developed a unique defense mechanism: whenever anything grabs or bites down on a hagfish, it releases massive amounts of slime from every pore in its body. In the wild that serves to clog the gills of predators who quickly lose interest in lunch.
For humans, grabbing a hagfish is much like trying to grab a handful of snot. And the harder you grasp, the snottier it gets.
Ironically, happiness works in much the same way.
The more you grab and grasp and lunge at happiness, the more difficult it is to obtain. The harder you pursue it, the farther away it becomes.
Philosophers have a name for this. It's called the Paradox of Pleasure.
The moment you ask whether you're happy or not is the moment you cease to be.
For the last 30 years or so, the whole world has sang along with Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy," the feel good song of the century.
But telling yourself to be happy is like Snooki telling herself to be tall.
There are lots of things you can do to make yourself happier (not worrying is a good start), but trying to be happy isn't one of them.
And too often our desperate pursuit of happiness becomes a pursuit of fun or a pursuit of pleasure which aren't really the same thing as happiness.
Happiness is a side effect and you can no more grab a handful of it than you can grab a handful of air, water or hagfish.
But unlike air, water and the prehistoric hagfish, happiness has a handle that you CAN grab onto. It's called gratitude.
The surest path to happiness is spending more time being grateful for what's right in your life and less time worrying about what's wrong.
Life is a true miracle, but we're only here for the blink of an eye. And the best way, probably the only way, to find true happiness in this brief shining moment is to appreciate it.
"Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." ~Lao Tzu
For humans, grabbing a hagfish is much like trying to grab a handful of snot. And the harder you grasp, the snottier it gets.
Ironically, happiness works in much the same way.
The more you grab and grasp and lunge at happiness, the more difficult it is to obtain. The harder you pursue it, the farther away it becomes.
Philosophers have a name for this. It's called the Paradox of Pleasure.
The moment you ask whether you're happy or not is the moment you cease to be.
For the last 30 years or so, the whole world has sang along with Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy," the feel good song of the century.
But telling yourself to be happy is like Snooki telling herself to be tall.
There are lots of things you can do to make yourself happier (not worrying is a good start), but trying to be happy isn't one of them.
And too often our desperate pursuit of happiness becomes a pursuit of fun or a pursuit of pleasure which aren't really the same thing as happiness.
Happiness is a side effect and you can no more grab a handful of it than you can grab a handful of air, water or hagfish.
But unlike air, water and the prehistoric hagfish, happiness has a handle that you CAN grab onto. It's called gratitude.
The surest path to happiness is spending more time being grateful for what's right in your life and less time worrying about what's wrong.
Life is a true miracle, but we're only here for the blink of an eye. And the best way, probably the only way, to find true happiness in this brief shining moment is to appreciate it.
"Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." ~Lao Tzu
This is awesome, I wish I had thought of that. Oh wait.. I did
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