What makes you happy?
"If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. If it makes you happy, then why the hell are you so sad?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyihQtBes1I
When I was first given this prompt, Sheryl Crow's perfect poppy face popped into my mind. It took me back about ten years, cruising around in my mom's beat-up, duct-taped convertible white Lebaron. (Which I thought was the SHIT.) Sun beating down on my adolescent skin without a vexation to name, I was free in my inchoate thoughts. Bliss equated to these times of quality with my mother. To give you some clarity, supplemental times of happiness also included making mud pies in the trailer park forest and watching my cat Homer give birth. (Homer was a originally thought to be a male but after much confusion we realized he was a she) ...I digress.
Fast forward to present...jogging back to a complete paradox from those memories. On the pursuit of hedonistic fluid freedom, I'm not entirely sure how to answer the prompt. A lot of tangible things make me happy; my friends, my family, meeting new people. All of these are interaction-based. But intrinsically what fuels my fire? That answer is a little more gray. I aspire to feel comfortable in my skin; I believe then I can reach true, unadulterated happiness. When do I feel this way you ask? Good question...I ask myself the same thing.
...I aspire to have my thirst quenched. I am always chasing something...a new high. I always want to travel here, talk to this person, go to this party, research this topic. For a long time I loathed this trait. I would get so pissed at myself that I couldn't just be happy with settling like the majority of the world. So maybe, after this long-winded dance of a blog post, that's what makes me happy. This constant chase to have my thirst quenched. As of right now the doctor is prescribing anything that allows me to feel fluid, vulnerable and electric to quench this thirst. What's the doctor prescribing you?
Fast forward to present...jogging back to a complete paradox from those memories. On the pursuit of hedonistic fluid freedom, I'm not entirely sure how to answer the prompt. A lot of tangible things make me happy; my friends, my family, meeting new people. All of these are interaction-based. But intrinsically what fuels my fire? That answer is a little more gray. I aspire to feel comfortable in my skin; I believe then I can reach true, unadulterated happiness. When do I feel this way you ask? Good question...I ask myself the same thing.
In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, he addresses this pursuit of happiness. (What's up Kid Cudi reference?!).
"Good things are commonly divided into three classes: external goods, goods of the soul, goods of the body...but in speaking of the 'soul,' we refer to our soul's actions and activities...for we all but defined happiness as a kind of good life and well-being."
This passage fleshes out my confusion a bit. External goods are easy to obtain: those cute wedges that make your legs look good or those playoff hockey tickets you splurged on. Goods of the body are a tad harder but still somewhat natural: losing that nagging last five pounds of the freshmen fifteen or not panting like a dog in-heat after four flights of stairs. But goods of the soul? Whoa hold on, that's gonna take some effort. When does your soul feel "good?" Fluid, vulnerable, electric. Those three adjectives are what makes my soul feel good. Check out Danielle LaPorte's core desired feelings to start identifying yours.
I had a conversation the other day with a friend about our status on the continuum of development. As twenty somethings are we considered "young adults?" And if so, what the hell does that label carry?! I think that we're forced to accept that title. We're awkward adjuncts to the greater world; not yet an essential component but aspiring to become essential in some way. Some people aspire to be essential to another person (i.e. the cheesy puzzle-piece soulmate bullshit). Others aspire to be essential to a field of work (i.e. obtaining a Ph.D. or receiving that six figure paycheck). ...I aspire to have my thirst quenched. I am always chasing something...a new high. I always want to travel here, talk to this person, go to this party, research this topic. For a long time I loathed this trait. I would get so pissed at myself that I couldn't just be happy with settling like the majority of the world. So maybe, after this long-winded dance of a blog post, that's what makes me happy. This constant chase to have my thirst quenched. As of right now the doctor is prescribing anything that allows me to feel fluid, vulnerable and electric to quench this thirst. What's the doctor prescribing you?
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