WEBVTT - The Mathematics of Happiness 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.439 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuffworks 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:14.239 dot com. Hey, you're welcome to Stuff to Blow your mind. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:18.760 My name is Robert Lamb and um Julie d Ammonia Douglass. 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:20.639 Oh yeah, what does ud ammonia? I mean, it's a 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:25.520 contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperss Yeah, 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.560 and that's that sumps you up except for prosperous, but 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:36.560 prosperous in my relationships and other non monetary ways. Yeah. Okay, well, 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.480 you know that's a it's a big question, right happiness 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:43.239 At this very moment, I feel you, ammonia, So you 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.400 feel happy right now? Right now? Okay, Well that's good. 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:50.199 That's that's that's that's a good sign for the podcast episode. 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:52.760 We should we should both be happy while we're doing it. 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:55.480 I mean, you don't have to be, but it helps, 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.040 I guess. But that's pretty much life in general, right, 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.200 I mean, from moment to moment, it's a question, am 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.000 I happy? Is this making me happy? And should I 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.080 be asking that question? To begin with? To what extent 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.080 is it a false construct? To what extent can we 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:12.440 actually plan and manipulate our environment in our life in 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.800 such a way that the end result is happiness, right, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.000 which is why this is such a sticky topic and 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.280 why we haven't really like put our arms around it 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:24.880 and really given it a big old squeeze, because, I mean, 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:26.959 this is kind of a territory that gets into all 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:31.240 sorts of variables. And as you had mentioned, happiness is 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.520 from moment to moments. So to say are you happy? 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.920 Do you want to be happy? It's sort of like, yes, 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.959 I do in five minutes, in a day, in a year, 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:42.440 I want all of that for me. And then to 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:46.640 even try to figure out what happiness is is a 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:52.400 whole sort of Pandora's box of philosophies and pitfalls. Yeah, 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.800 like when anyone asks you what it does X make 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:59.280 you happy? Um, and unless unless X is something that's 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.360 tied to a very in the moment experience, such as 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.480 say does the sugar make you happy? You know you 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:06.120 can say, well, yes, sugar makes me happy in a 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.000 very short term sense. But otherwise it you know, does 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.600 does does any kind of artestic artistic endeavor that you 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.600 you busy yourself with? Does does that make you happy? Well? Yes, 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:18.880 their moments that it probably makes you really happy. There 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.360 are moments where it will frustrate you there moments where 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.960 where it will will bleed into other areas of happiness 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.080 or frustration in your life. It's just it's it's such, 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.000 it's so dependent on so many different things, and it's 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.959 such a subjective experience, right, subjective and ephemeral. Right, it's 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.639 a fleeting feeling most times. And it's and you had 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.400 mentioned this whole thing of like, even asking the question 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.120 about happiness, what is it? Am I happy? Kind of 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.800 takes you outside of the experience of being happy, and 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.280 it's sort of one of the things that you start 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.519 to take it apart. Can you put it back together again? 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:53.600 You know? Does that does it make us unhappy to 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.799 even try to figure out what this un ammonia is? Well, 0:02:57.840 --> 0:02:59.720 you end up stabbing to step outside of the human 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.560 experian's itself, because when you start realizing that that as 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.519 humans we are ephemeral, As humans were not one thing 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.519 from one second to the next. Where this weird, kind 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:14.400 of odd shaped snake that's draped across the timeline, with 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.760 all these weird unconscious things going on that we can't 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.840 always pin down. And right, there's just so many different 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.120 states affecting nous. So one of the things you mentioned. 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.960 You said, if X makes me happy, that made me 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.600 think about this equation. That we're going to talk about 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.360 this happiness equation, which might sound a little reductive, and 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.000 maybe it is, and we'll get to it, but we 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.640 really wanted to use this as our sort of entree 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.600 into the topic because we could go on and we 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.720 may into this topic for episodes and episodes and episodes, 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.520 but this at least gives us a place to start 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.960 ad to figure out, you know, happiness in this transient 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.800 state and what it means to us, because indeed, they're 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.280 constantly are studies coming out dealing with happiness and the 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.720 human we for happiness, and uh it's and we've been 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.960 trying to figure out what happiness is for a very 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.680 long time. Uh So it's a deep topic. And today 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:10.760 we're going to we're gonna talk a little bit about 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:13.640 how are thinking about happiness has changed, and then we're 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:17.480 gonna talk about this supposed happiness equation, which is when 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:18.800 we get to it, you'll see it's a little more 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.920 complicated than than than it sounds. Yeah, there's no X 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:25.599 plus Y equals. Yeah, there are many more variables. But 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.960 let's start with Aristotle because He described happiness as an 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.440 experience of the good life through virtuous action. Okay, so 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.680 this is the idea. You spend your time doing things 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:42.560 that are good, that are virtuous, that benefit humanity in 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.960 some way. You're gonna you're gonna feel good about that. 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:49.320 You're gonna feel uh this, this positive feeling in your life. Yes, 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:54.120 by being disciplined, by being virtuous. Yes, the byproduct is 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.960 a sort of glow of happiness that that you're you know, 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.280 a good person out they're doing good things. Okay, and 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:02.839 I can see where, certainly later you can end up 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:07.680 interpreting this, uh by by really drawing in more religious 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.480 ideas of virtue as well. But but you know on 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:12.960 the surface that that's this is a definition that seems 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:15.160 to ring true. When you're doing when you're helping others, 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:19.400 when you're doing good things of that nature, you do 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.719 feel a certain a bit of happiness is kind of 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.160 you know, contentment. You know you're not you're not you 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:27.000 don't feel like you're wasting your time. Yeah, there's a 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.279 sort of purpose in life. Right, And now you can 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:32.640 sort of turn the dial a couple of degrees and 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:36.479 you can see that you can go from being happy 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.640 to feeling happy, which then kind of makes you change 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.719 this perception of happiness as this pursuit, this thing that 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.560 you have to have and a kind of pleasure that 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:49.800 you want over and over again. In fact, we know 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.800 that dopamine is released when we're feeling really happy, so 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:56.280 you can kind of even tie that to a sort 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.800 of addiction to happiness. And I'm talking about hedonism, yeah, 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:02.440 for talking about, of course, the hedonistic view of life, 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.080 the idea that life is all about seeking pleasure and 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:07.480 you're just jumping from one pleasure to the next, and 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.680 that that is part and partial to the human experience itself, 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.680 and anything else you're telling yourself is just a lie. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:15.640 So that's one way to look at it. Yeah, this 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.080 one way to look at Yeah. Another and you kind 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.400 of already touched on this is happiness can be associated 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.080 with a state of flow. And we've talked about this 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.760 before that when you're really engaged in activity or just 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:31.560 even thinking about something, it's pleasurable because you lose yourself 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:34.920 inside of it and time sort of suspends itself. Yeah, 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.920 we've talked about the default mode network before. You know 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.960 that the voice in your head, it's constantly tied into 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:45.680 anxieties about past and the future. Uh. And then when 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.719 you can shut that down, uh, you know, by meditation, 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.800 by who knows medication, but also by just simply becoming 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.720 the act that you're involved in, be that act howing 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.080 the yard or writing a poem, or doing your job 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.040 at work, or a gamy. And we're going to talk 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:05.520 about in our next episode. But according to Megan Keener, 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.200 writing for the Huffington Post, neuroscientists and Buddhist monk Mathou 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.120 Record teaches that durable happiness as a way of life 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:17.320 requires training the mind and developing qualities like inner peace, mindfulness, 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:21.680 and altruistic love and uh. She goes on to say 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:25.160 that Dali Lama agrees, describing happiness as a skill requiring 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.320 effort in time to develop an understanding of the true 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.120 nature of reality. And in a way, you kind of 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:37.000 get back to Aristotle here, this byproduct of doing right 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.040 by yourself, of doing good in the world, of of 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:44.240 trying to come to the act in a very mindful way. Yeah, 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:46.880 and a little bit there from the Dalai Lama about 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.200 understanding the true nature of reality. Um, I kind of 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:55.320 enjoy taking that notion to a certain degree. Outside of 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.480 the Buddhist construct there and think about, you know, just 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:03.880 sort of having a good understanding, a good based understanding 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.800 of how the brain is working, how the mind is working, 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:11.520 and and and knowing, you know, however, we're gonna inevitably 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.840 go from this happy moment to the next with dips 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:18.320 in between, and there's a topography to uh, to our 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:20.840 emotional state in life. Like just knowing that there is 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.200 a topography and realizing that there are going to be 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.440 ups and downs. I feel like that is is is 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.280 an important part of at least trying to maintain some 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:30.960 sort of happiness in your life. Yeah, I kind of 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.440 quit it with the ferret of the mind looking for 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.160 everything that's shiny, you know, and just bouncing from one 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.679 thing to another. Yeah, and just knowing that there's a ferret. 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.160 It's kind of half the battle. I mean that you 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.080 can become aware of this, uh, this state of mind, 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:46.720 then you can you can actually take some steps to 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:48.360 deal with it. Yeah. And if you can say stop, 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.200 that's fool schoold, it's not the real thing, then maybe 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.120 you can back up for a second and kind of 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.959 get back into yourself and back into that present moment. 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:01.760 Now when did we humans really least think that happiness 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.200 was worth pursuing an earnest because this hasn't always been 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.160 the aim of humanity. Oh yeah, I mean you just 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.760 just in the Western tradition you look back at and 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.520 it's certainly like Protestant thinking and and to a certain 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.079 degree Catholic views of of life, where you you really 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.480 get into this idea of this physical world as being 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.840 a world of suffering and just you it's all about 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.720 just enduring what the world is throwing at you, and 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:29.840 you've got to keep your eyes in the prize and 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:34.400 that being some form of happiness in the afterlife, if 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.079 you can even call it happiness. You can even I 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.719 guess it base call it liberation. Uh, you know, to 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.559 get a little Buddhist on it. But life sucks, and 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.319 your only possibility out of the suck is to follow 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.560 the rules and make it out in the next life. Right, 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.040 there's the original sin, the idea of that, and everybody's 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:55.280 gonna suffer for that in this lifetime, which when you 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.839 get out maybe not so much so. According to Peter 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:03.440 Stearn's writing for the Harvard Business Review, this idea changed 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.560 in the eighteenth century, and he said the fact is 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.960 that the commitment to happiness in Western culture is relatively 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.280 modern until the eighteenth century. Uh, if anything, you have 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.600 that saddened approach to life. And so he says, what 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.480 changed is you had the the Enlightenment. And we've talked 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:21.880 about this before. The Enlightenment not only just brought in 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:26.480 this new circulation of ideas, but coffee houses which helped 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:30.760 to circulate and really pump up everybody's energy to communicate 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:34.839 those ideas like little virus, these little memes that began 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.680 to distribute among everybody. And so then you have these 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:41.920 ideas of well, hey, maybe you know the original sin 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.880 and suffering. Maybe it's a little bit different. Maybe God 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:49.240 wants us to be happy, and he was coffee and 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:50.920 all this energy, and I have all these thoughts and 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:53.560 ideas and I want to talk about him. Maybe God 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:57.160 really wants us to be cheerful. That's that's the idea there. 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:00.200 And in addition to that, Stearn says that the air 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.920 were advances and human comfort for the middle classes. This 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.760 is really key, and he's saying that there is better 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:10.080 home heating. I mean, imagine being chilled throughout the night 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.440 and how angry and depressed you might be the next day. Um. 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.680 It's these little things that he said sort of move 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.360 the needle for people to get into a position where 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:22.160 they could begin to consider happiness. In other words, they 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.360 were in this really nice, comfortable position. Um. And he 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:31.120 even says that improved dentistry might have encouraged people to 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.200 smile more. And you know, we've talked about this before. 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:39.120 Just smiling, the act of it will communicate to your 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.400 brain that you're happy, even if that state. You know, 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:44.960 right before that you were kind of feeling funky or 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:47.160 in a funk, I should say. And then the just 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.400 the act of your lips curling up can tell your brain, hey, 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.640 you're smiling. You know that. In this of course, flows 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.840 into the the theory that the Mona Lisa, for instance, 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.920 might have had that unique smile because she doesn't want 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.920 to show her teeth. Um, it's an it's an interesting theory. 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.760 But the thing is, it's kind of disappointing though. Yeah, 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:12.640 you know, like, oh, she's the she's neither smiling or grimacing, 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.440 she's just doesn't want to show her teeth. Yeah, but 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.600 you know what, I think we've all seen very genuine 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:23.880 smiles on the part of people with imperfect, too too 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.000 bad teeth, you know, and in a way like there's 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.800 nothing better, because you know, that's a genuine smile, Like 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.320 it's a smile where the the happiness of the moment 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:38.720 supersedes any concerns about physical health or or or just 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:43.040 you know, basic appearance. Yeah, and it's you know, we 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.400 kind of take dentistry for granted now, but think back 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.079 to the eighteenth century, and this would be a clear 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:53.040 marker of those who maybe had access to money and 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:56.120 dentistry and those who did not. So all of a 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.680 sudden to be able to have things in your mouth fixed, 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.480 you know, maybe not have that rowan tooth or whatever 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.240 it is. Um that might say, oh, look at me, 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.840 I've got access to wealth, and I'm going to smile 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.480 about it all day. All right. So weally, we eventually 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:16.400 get into this idea, uh, in large part, especially in 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.800 the United States, so due to the Declaration of Independence 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.400 UH and Thomas Jefferson's pen that everyone has the right 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:28.120 to life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, the 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:32.239 Declaration of Independence is not provide additional details on exactly 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:36.400 what happiness means and or how to obtain it, but 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:38.480 we're told, oh, will you have a right to uh, 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.920 to pursue it? So so what are we to make 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.079 of that? Like? Where where does that even come from? 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:47.400 That's a that's a question that scholars have actually looked 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:50.440 at quite a bit. Well. Thomas Jefferson, as we know, 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:55.000 was really very well read and in many different areas, 0:13:55.600 --> 0:14:00.160 and as Josh Clark points out his article about this um, 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:05.240 Jefferson was very interested in philosopher John Locke's ideas, and 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.760 Locke had originally positive the idea that a person's right 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.560 to live a healthy life, free to amass and maintain 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:18.400 property or life. Health, liberty, and property was sort of 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.080 the bedrock on which Jefferson began to build his own 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.800 philosophy for what the United States might want to pursue 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.520 for itself. So we're not quite sure how happiness came 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:32.720 to be in in his um final wording in in 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.080 the Declaration of Independence, but we do know that this 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:41.080 idea of health and wellness well being might have informed 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.480 this idea of happiness. Yeah. Again, it's such a subjective 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.640 thing that really if you try and and really dissected 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.280 too much, you just start running into dead ends. And 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:54.360 especially when you think about the fact that that the 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:59.280 American dream, as as it was back then, also entails 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.240 being able to um to a new place and practice 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:07.320 some sort of dreary take on Protestant theology again where 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:12.440 life is not about happiness, and maybe that that that 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.960 belief is in a sense your own sort of happiness. 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:19.840 That it gets complicated, it does, and then it's again 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.760 it's interesting to see Thomas Thomas Jefferson and others during 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:26.040 this period really bringing in these other ideas of what 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.080 life is. So obviously in the United States there's a 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.880 comfort level that has been reached in which Jefferson and 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:38.400 others can begin to ponder what it means um to 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.640 be this human in this society and what to expect. 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.360 And I think that's the fascinating thing, is that that 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:48.320 turn from health and wealth being eking into this idea 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:52.080 of happiness and that that should be accessible for people 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:58.920 some people. You know, technology makes a lot of things easier, 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:01.320 like using the st office, but stamps dot Com you 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.720 can do everything that you do at the post office 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.480 right from your computer. Best of all, it's super easy. 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.280 You don't need to be a tech expert with stamps 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:11.120 dot Com. 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All right, we're back and we're talking about happiness, 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:17.240 and we're gonna talk a little bit about something called 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:21.680 the happiness industrial Complex, or something dubbed the happiness industrial complex. 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:23.879 And for an example of this, you just need to 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:27.760 look at pretty much anything in your surrounding world. U 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.919 turn on the television, turn on the radio, listen to 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:36.600 a podcast, drive down the street. It's everywhere. Yeah. And 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:41.560 according to Caroline Gregor, a features editor Huffington Post, a 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.760 Google search for happiness yields seventy five million results and 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:50.280 nearly forty thousand books on the topic. Now sitting atop 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:55.280 this heap of books is Gretchen Rubens Happiness Book or 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.960 The Happiness Project. I'm sure a lot of listeners have 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:02.440 probably seen this around. And Gretchen Ruben, she was very 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.960 interested in trying to figure out what made her happy, 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.320 and she began to sort of live this life of 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.639 how she could achieve Um. It's a sort of like 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.600 the six sigma Jack Doneghie, Like I'm going to attack 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:16.480 happiness and it's going to be in you know, all 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.879 these different areas of my life. And she lived it 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.680 for like a year and then wrote about the successes 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:24.399 and the failures of that, as well as some of 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.080 the studies and the science behind it. Um. But she 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:29.840 says that she thinks that the reason why there is 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:34.400 this happiness Industrial complex is because we live in a 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:39.080 time of incredible prosperity, not of course globally, but in 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.439 the West. This is probably one of the prosperous times 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.800 in history. And so hearkening that to that idea that 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.000 when you reach a certain comfort level, you began to 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.640 really become more introspective and figure out how to move 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.800 that needle on your own happiness. Yeah, and then the 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.840 media that you consume, the examples of life that you 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.520 see around you, those kind of become the the sort 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:04.119 of baseline happiness that you feel, on some level you 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.320 should be able to achieve. So you have this, uh, 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:09.840 you have this example of what your home should be, 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.320 what your family should be, what your clothing should be, 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:16.080 what your your nose should be, I don't know, and 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.080 and and that that becomes the model that becomes something 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:23.280 that you you strive for. Um And there's and there's 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.280 no end of people that want to sell you something 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.600 that will help you reach that point where you have 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:30.679 that house, where you have that nose, where you have 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.239 that outfit, where you have whatever version of of of 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.280 happiness you're having to pull out of the media ether 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.480 all around you, which kind of gets you into this 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:42.000 terrible place where you think that there's a standard of 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.640 happiness that you must fulfill for yourself, even though knowing 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.879 can really define that for the community at large, it 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:51.760 has to be defined individually. And so I think that's 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.879 what fueling this industry. People are just saying, how if 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:56.399 I just buy this book, if I just do this 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:00.520 one thing, then I'll be happy, Which again, it's not 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:05.879 a one size fits all, um, and it's taken hold. 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:10.280 I think of people's imagine nation so much so that Uh, 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:14.400 there is a one forty five million dollar Pentagon sort 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.000 of happiness program that was put into place. Uh and 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:22.240 his PBS opinion piece The Tyranny of Happiness, Joshua Faust 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:25.879 writes that Martin Silikman helped to create this program to 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.320 teach optimistic thinking to veterans returning from wars in Iraq 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:34.520 and Afghanistan. And it's a kind of resilience training that 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.280 was also put into place for for other soldiers, not 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.119 just veterans. And so on the one hand, you have 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:46.720 detractors who say it's super reductive. Um, it's almost like 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:52.040 mind control. And it's also possibly not dealing with the 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:56.320 concerns of veterans who have really had some very traumatic 0:20:56.400 --> 0:21:00.159 experiences returning from war. But on the other hand, I 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.160 mean as as again as reductionists as it may seem 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.280 to just sort of have this hey fight the horror 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.240 with happiness kind of vibe. I mean, at least they're 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.720 giving them some tools to work with, some something cling 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.600 onto if you feel yourself drifting off into the deep 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:21.720 end of of trauma and post traumatic stress. Right, it's 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.840 it's a step in the right direction for mental health, right, 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.560 and to even addressing the fact that there are issues 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:31.040 that um, a lot of people are dealing with when 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.159 when they're at war. UM. But the other sort of 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.760 murky thing about this is that Seligman is very much 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:42.120 associated with torture tactics and techniques and he's he's kind 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:44.919 of actually got the corner on that. So here you 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:48.000 have this guy who has has worked with the government 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:53.199 UM and torture techniques, but is also on the flip 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:59.400 side trying to help soldiers with positive thinking. And UM, 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.560 it's it's very interesting, I should say, just if not 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:05.920 um controversial. I mean, you could argue that he's very 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.080 qualified for this since he is familiar with the the 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:11.920 the opposite end of the spectrum. But but yeah, I 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:14.040 don't know it. It's still maybe it's just just a 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.119 simple matter of anytime you have something that's referred to 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:20.639 as the Pentagon Happiness program, it's going to ring a 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:23.040 little Hollway. I think that's an informal take on it. 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:24.840 I'm not sure if that's what they actually I think 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.000 I know they refer to it as positive psychology. But 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:29.000 you're right, it is interesting, like this is the guy 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:31.560 who knows how to break an individual, so maybe this 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:34.280 is the guy who knows how to fix an an individual. 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:37.600