Are we trying too hard to be happy?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Are we trying too hard to be happy?
Author wonders whether over medication is sapping our cultural assets

In his new book “Against Happiness,â€

[ryan costa]

Chuck Schultz could never have wrote all those Charlie Brown comic strips without a fresh dose of melancholy in the morning.

Some say Caffeine is the most potent prevalent psychoactive drug and that 10 percent of diagnosed neurotic disorders are related to caffeine use. The constant highs and lows of getting caffeined up push people to write French Poetry and write manifestos against McDonalds.

[Lynn Farris]

There is far too litle happiness in the world today in my opinion. I think the mistake that people make is thinking that happiness is a goal and it isn't. One of our favorite thoughts/prayers is the Seeds of Success by Og Mandino. http://www.inspire.com.ve/inspiration/seeds.htm

I will remain aware of how little it takes to make this a happy day. Never will I pursue happiness, because it is not a goal, just a by-product, and there is no happiness in having or in getting, only in giving.

I will live this day as if it were Christmas. I will be a giver of gifts and deliver to my enemies the gift of forgiveness; my opponents, tolerance; my friends, a smile; my children, a good example, and every gift will be wrapped with unconditional love.

I will keep a smile on my face and in my heart even when it hurts today. I know that the world is a looking glass and gives back to me the reflection of my own soul. Now I understand the secret of correcting the attitude of others and that is to correct my own.

The anti-happiness author seems to see the problems in the world but not God's greatest gift to us - an ability to work together to solve these problems. And in working together to solve these problems - we achieve success and happiness.

I will embrace today's difficult tasks, take off my coat, and make dust in the world. I will remember that the busier I am, the less harm I am apt to suffer, the tastier will be my food, the sweeter my sleep, and the better satisfied I will be with my place in the world.

I will condition myself to look on every problem I encounter today as no more than a pebble in my shoe. I remember the pain, so harsh I could hardly walk, and recall my surprise when I removed my shoe and found only a grain of sand.

I will work convinced that nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. To do anything today that is truly worth doing, I must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble through as well as I can.

I will face the world with goals set for this day, but they will be attainable ones, not the vague, impossible variety declared by those who make a career of failure. I realize that you always try me with a little, first, to see what I would do with a lot.

[ryan costa]

it could be people aren't trying too hard to be happy but trying to be too happy or accomplished. Oprah and Ellen Degeneres set very high standards. Usually when I go shopping at Target i'll get real worried about money after putting a few things in the cart. Maybe when i get the the tax return.

[Dustin James]

[quote="Jim O'Bryan"]Are we trying too hard to be happy?
Author wonders whether over medication is sapping our cultural assets

In his new book “Against Happiness,â€

[dl meckes]

Is every unhappy person an artist?

Are all medicated people happy?

The strawman discussion of the pursuit of happiness sells. It makes the author happy; he sells books and appears on the TV! Happiness!

Happiness runs in a circular motion
Thought is like a little boat upon the sea.
Everybody is a part of everything anyway,
You can have everything if you let yourself be.
-Donovan