The result is a kind of cultural mental illness in which we are, in effect, driven to dehumanize ourselves - to lose ourselves in materialistic illusions - in order to evade the fundamental anxiety of the human condition. 

To cure this illness requires an inner process of re-humanization - of our values, our science, and most importantly, our way of understanding our own experience. 

Like Scrooge and Pinocchio, we need to wake up from our shallow materialistic illusions and reclaim what we know in our heart of hearts to be true. 

I want to believe we can turn things around. It would be cynical to give up on life and turn our backs on the kids: Cynicism is irresponsible. And having hope is a much more healthy way to live. I think of hope as a design decision..

... Barbara Kingsolver.... [Organic Style, May/June 2003]

**Small Wonder : Essays
It is possible to move away from a vast, unbearable pain by delving into it deeper and deeper -- by "diving into the wreck," to borrow the perfect words from Adrienne Rich. You can look at all the parts of a terrible thing until you see that they're assemblies of smaller parts, all of which you can name, and some of which you can heal or alter, and finally the terror that seemed unbearable becomes manageable. [from the Forward]

While there's nothing we can do to change our genetic makeup, there's a lot we can do to make the most of our Happiness Set Point. ... Lykken reveals aspects of our lives that allow us to overcome our genes, that bring us pleasure. 

Whether it's a faithful pet, an interesting career, or the perfect lemon meringue pie, being what Lykken calls "an epicure of experience" is the key. Furthermore, Lykken outlines the emotions that deprive us of happiness, such as fear, anger, and shyness, and the ways that we can counteract them. [from Amazon.com review]

*book:**Happiness: The Nature and Nurture of Joy and Contentment by David Thoreson Lykken

In his wonderful book, Joy Is My Compass, Alan Cohen describes his great moment of awakening when it came to letting go of trivial things in his life that tend to drive him crazy. 

This moment didn't come upon him on the top of a great mountain or at the edge of a vast ocean. No, his moment of awakening came to him at McDonalds! (There are many paths to awakening!) 

He reports that from the minute he walked into McDonalds for a quick lunch, he was miserable. He remembered someone telling him there was sugar in the french fries. 

He imagined the presence of preservatives in the apple pie. He lamented the preponderance of noisy kids disturbing the whole environment, and on and on and on.

Nothing was right. He vowed he would never return. But, then, as he sat there in what he called "the smog of my own thoughts," the voice from his Higher Self came through loud and clear.

It asked him a profound question that made all the difference...

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His Higher Self answered... 

"What if nothing around you holds any power to make you unhappy?"

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"We are morally obligated to be as happy as we can be." It is not selfish to want to be happy. It's our obligation to the people we love and live with to be as bearable as we can be. Happiness, [Dennis] Prager said, is altruistic! 

Unhappiness is "the easy way out." It takes no spark or conviction to be bummed out by life. What a dull syllogism: Life isn't working out for me, therefore the whole world sucks, therefore I'm gonna wear my negative attitude like a sandwich-board sign. 

"Any jerk can be unhappy - it takes effort, talent, and skill to be happy!"

"To say that love is an intense positive feeling isn't much help - its just a synonym. I prefer to say about happiness what the Supreme Court justice said about pornography: I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."

Adopt a tragic attitude toward life. This may sound crazy, but it has been a blessing for Prager. Accept that life can be brutish and short and unfair, and happiness automatically comes into perspective for you. 

People who live lives of rose-colored, Barbie-like optimism are the ones who never quite learn the gravity of life, and the gratitude we must have in order to be happy.
 

These objectives can be achieved through physical amenities and proper mental development, but the dominant factor is the mental aspect.

Psychology seeks to understand the self, the mind, the inner workings of sensations, perceptions, cognitions, emotions, instincts and so forth.

The resulting art should contribute directly to the human capacity for happiness, for creativity, for undersdtanding.
 
 

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Not necessarily. In fact, survey after survey has shown that it is unhappy people who tend to be most self-focused and are often socially withdrawn, brooding, and even antagonistic.

Happy people, in contrast, are generally found to be more sociable, flexible, and creative...

.. a menu of ten behaviors you can add to your way of living and thinking to enhance every day's journey through the unpredictable terrain of your existence. The ten menu items are:

Nothing: Do nothing for fifteen minutes a day. Stop mindlessly chasing goals and figure out which goals are worth going after.

Truth: Create a moment of truth to help you unmask what you're hiding - from others and from yourself.

Desire: Identify, articulate, and explore at least one of your heart's desires - and learn how to let yourself want what you want.

Creativity: Learn six new ways to develop at least one new idea to help you obtain your heart's desire.

Risk: Take one baby step toward reaching your goal. The only rule is that it has to scare the pants off you.

Treats: Give yourself a treat for every risk you take, and two treats just because you're you. No exceptions. No excuses.

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Laughter: Laugh at least thirty times a day. Props encouraged.

Connection: Use your Joy Diet skills to interact with someone who matters to you.

Feasting: Enjoy at least three square feasts a day, with or without food.

It is a fact that everyone in the world is seeking happiness, often unconsciously (whatever their concept of it is) - some may deny it, citing other pursuits instead, but no-one actively pursues misery, except in the mistaken belief that it is happiness. 

That the pursuit of this ideal is often unrecognised by those seeking it, must be accepted by us - it is nevertheless a fact - and happiness is given many names, satisfaction, excitement, thrill, good times etc.

Its pursuit can take on the guise of drug and alcohol abuse, sexual pursuit, greed, lust for power, high ambition, steady employment, a family, good exam results etc.

The list is in fact endless, but none of them lead to real abiding happiness, because no sooner is one objective fulfilled than another raises its head to spoil the fragment of happiness obtained.

So what is the solution and how do we find this real and abiding happiness? The clues are there for everyone to see, both in the world and within yourself, but most people miss them. 

To test the above requires only a few moments of clear introspection. It is the mind which conjures up daydreams and we then take part in them, acting out in our mind-world the scenes we expect to take place in the material world, imagining all sorts of bliss arising from the fulfilment of our illusions.

Soon we become convinced by the illusion and set out to give some concrete form to the dream. 

It might be a new car, a washing machine, a holiday in the sun, a new partner, money, anything in fact. But what is the real truth - most of the time our dreams are only dreams, coming to nothing but increased frustration. 

On the rare ocassions that they become a concrete fact, we find not our expected result of endless bliss, but a short period of exultation as the desire dies in the achievment of the object. 

For a short time we have a quiet mind and in that quiet we find happiness. It is not the object that generates happiness, because if it was, then happiness would continue as long as the object remained. 

We all know that such is not true and the more we get, the more we want and the less peace we have. This is common to all. 

quoted in the W-ISDOM list

...The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi