I Am Not Delusional (I Swear)

I truly believe happiness can offer a compelling counterpoint to the “leadership style” that has been foisted upon us and, perhaps, a vision for something better.

I am fully aware that the world (at America’s inducement) is burning. Writing about happiness probably sounds, at best, like I have my head in the sand or, at worst, that I am actively acting as a distraction to more pressing concerns. It is easy to feel ambivalent toward working for a future that seemingly gets bleaker by the moment. I mean, I get it! I am not trying to diminish or be dismissive of the realities of current events by discussing something as trivial or superficial as hApPiNeSs.

With utmost apologies to KC Green's web comic strip "On Fire,"

There are times when I feel like speaking out about what is going on, and I have. Sometimes in a less direct way. Sometimes it’s been more pointed. But, as much as I feel I have something to say, there are far more far more¹ qualified people out there already discussing the epic clusterfuck of what is going on. I suggest you read them. (see below for links).

For my part what I can do is speak of individual happiness and a leadership style utilizing happiness as its core philosophy. I believe it can offer a compelling counterpoint to the “leadership style” that has been foisted upon us and, perhaps, a vision for something better.

Much of happiness (IMHO) is dependent on accepting that the world is chaotic and shit happens. How we deal with it goes a long way in making sense of the world. I never expected that our own government would be the agent of much of that mayhem. It would be helpful, and much less stressful, if we had a society (buttressed by a government) that would act as a safety net for when things go to shit. As it is, or the way it feels, at least, is that not only has the government removed the safety nets, but is actively shaking the tightrope we’re walking on. This is the opposite of ensuring that we can exercise our right to the pursuit of happiness.

The most sanity-inducing thing you can do for yourself in these troubling times is to control what you can control. Another big chunk of happiness (again IMHO) is to understand that you have an impact on your world; your immediate surroundings; the people you come in contact with on a day to day basis. To be sure, staying focused on your sphere of influence is very difficult when all hell is breaking loose around you, but it is helpful to know, even now, your actions still have a positive impact - the people around you will appreciate it.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t feel angry, frustrated, or even sad about the ongoing state of affairs. These are legit emotions that, if you need to feel them, you need to feel them. It is perfectly acceptable to stop, whenever the mood strikes, and say, “this is totally fucked up and not helping me, the ones I love, or anyone else that I can think of.” And then, maybe, scream for a little while. I won’t hold it against you, as long as, after you get it out of you, you go be kind to a stranger. They need it as much as you do.

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I am sure there are redhats who will object to my dismissiveness of whatever attempt is being made right now to “right the ship” (or whatever). Maybe they have a point. For the life of me, I cannot see the endgame, and don’t understand how any of this gets us there (wherever the hell “there” is). So far as I can tell there has been no vision, no goal, no strategy, no direction clearly or coherently articulated in such a way that people and businesses can make decisions with confidence - most everyone has been frozen midstep—unsure what to do next².

This is the exact opposite of leading with happiness.

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It is my sincere hope that these musings on happiness can be, in some way, a guide to resisting the current regime. Working toward happiness on an individual level easily extrapolates to happiness on a broader level—to groups, to communities, to systems of leadership across all sizes and spectrums. Not to sound overly hyperbolic, but fighting the individual fight IS fighting the greater fight. If anything, you and your actions matter more than you can ever know. That is the point of The Happiness Guy: to encourage the active uplifting of one another. We help ourselves by helping each other.

I’m not going to sit here and say “Vive Le Bonheur!”³ expecting the walls to come tumbling down. To reiterate: I am not delusional. However, it stands to reason that if the current mood of the world has been caused by current events, the future mood can be transformed by future events.

At the risk of sounding like an idealist (I am a happyist, after all), I’m here to talk about being prepared for such future events.

Happiness may not be as trivial as one might think. Vive Le Bonheur!

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FAR MORE FAR MORE

If you are interested in reading about the current state of affairs from people who are do that sort of thing better than me, here are a few places to start:

1. Far more (as in quantity) far more (as in quality).

2. You might think you know which current event I'm talking about, but it could be ANY of the events he's ever initiated.

3. Long live happiness!