This morning, the ever-smart (and happy) Gini Dietrich Asks If Happiness is the Same As Being Dumb? It’s all based on a recent blog (Are Happy People Dumb?) from the folks at the Harvard Business Review. And this all got me to thinking: What’s So Bad About Being Happy?!
Don’t get me wrong – I can sort of see where they’re going with this. It seems to me that far too many people are worried that we don’t brush stuff under the perverbial rug and take things a bit more seriously. I get that.
But it also feels like far too many people mistake ‘happiness’ for some kind of blank existence where we just focus on what makes us feel good or sing a happy tune tune in our head…kind of like the 80′s ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ song/mantra from Bobby McFerrin.
Unfortunately, this great song gets associated with the foolhardiness of the decade (i.e. not being responsible with money, health, etc.)…And, it seems to me, that this kind of thinking may have trickled over to this report. And, like I said, I can see his point:
- In just About Everyting You do In Life, You’ve Got to Be Responsible
- Although I Enjoy the Foibles That Homer Simpson Gets Himself Into, You Have to Be Smart
- You Can’t Just Snuff Off Big Issues Like It’s Someone Else’s Problem
BUT, That Should *Never* Get in the Way of Your Happiness.
Cause at the end of the day, unless you’re saving the world, what you’re doing should never interfere with your happiness. You should make some room to
Smile
Laugh
Just Shut Up and Dance
And Stop Taking Yourself So Seriously…Having That Kind of ‘Seriousness’ Impedes With your Intelligence – It’s Making You More ‘Dumb’ In My Opinion.
Love it, Narciso. And this reminds me, I’ve been meaning to write a post somewhat related to this, but on how people portray just how “happy” they are in social media. Are they REALLY that happy? Or are they pretending? @jillfoster came up with a term for it – “barfshiners,” which took off on the thread (it was a Facebook post), and I better get on it!
It’s Good to Be Happy! Gald You Like It. And, hey, @JillFoster Should Get a Gold Star for ‘BarfShiners’ – Great Word to Encapsulate a ‘Happy Poser’ … Those Kind of People Remind Me of the Freakadoos in the Stepford Wives Movie … You Never Really Get What They’re ‘Drinking’ Until you Realize…Oh, Yeah…They’re Robots…! But, Heck Yeah – That Post Sounds Like It’d Be a Good Read. You Could Almost Set It Up Like a Call-to-Action for People to Stop Being ‘Happy Tourists’ and Really Have a Sit-Down w/Some Reality
Who says I’m happy?!?
Now that we’ve established you don’t have to be dumb in order to be happy, what do we do about the perception of the pessimists who think we’re just brushing our worries under the rug?
You Bring Up a Good Point, Gini! I Propose That We ‘Happy Folk’ Do Two Big Things:
1. ‘Own It’ – This ‘Suspicious’ Behavior Is Something That (Perhaps More Often Than Not) Comes a Bit Naturally…At Least to Me. So, You Should Let Your Freak Flag Fly.
2. Don’t Go Nutty With It – Some People May See Happy People as If They Were on Some Freak-Juice…To Some, This is Justified – Others, It’s Not. So *Be Real* in This ‘Happy’ Cause – and Keep In Mind That Part of Happiness Comes From Being Honest About Things…Sometimes Daddy Has to Break Out a Can Of ‘Whomp’ or Push Back on Stupidity and Arrogance…Or Admit That You’re Wrong…and If You’re Nutty in Happiness, You Can’t Be Real…And You Certainly Can’t Be Honest.
To Gini (and Everyone Else): What Say You..?
You know what would make me happy?! If you stopped using initial caps! LOL!!!
Wouldn’t you rather be around people who are happy than those who are negative all the time? I know I would.
Har-Dee-Har…har-dee-har…! But You Have a Point – It Can be a Bit Tiring Having People ‘Harshing’ on Your Gig All the Time….HOWEVER, It Is Kinda Fun ‘Harshing’ the Gig of a Grumpy Person
Hola Narciso , I am a graphic artist inquireing on the copyright restrictions on that picture of those two kids, the face of the kid with his hands clenched would be a great one for an add I am workiing on,
Three Cheers for being happy