Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Happiness
I was browsing in Waterstones today and noticed their display of books on how to be happy. On a similar theme, I see Actimel are still running their yoghurt adverts (you remember the yoghurt adverts featuring Actimel Woman who runs around the place, wearing bright clothes, skateboarding, teasing policemen and generally having a good time.)
Son hates Actimel Woman. I wonder why.
It is very odd to live in a society that has decided that happiness is the ultimate aim (religious types might disagree but even they are supposed to be working towards god-provided bliss).
There keep being articles about the Eastern wisdom of the Bhutans(I think its Bhutan), who have replaced GNP with GHP. There don't seem to be any dissenting voices; happiness is so obviously the aim of life I guess.
Except that if it was I'd be way ahead. For I give Actimel Woman a good run for her money regularly. And instead of congratulations I get nine different tablets from the psychiatrist.
I thought maybe the aim was genuine happiness. Except that happiness is an emotion- it doesn't come in fake varieties. When I am high I am at least as happy as I was when, say, I got married or opened my copy of Roads and Boats. It's jolly good happiness too; solid through and through.
So maybe the problem is that being high makes me unhappy later. It certainly makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable, but I get far more highs than lows and the average is definitely a high plus.
It doesn't make family happy. They fret in a way I find difficult to measure, as I don't notice it at the time. Recent survey of bipolar people and their partners showed that while bipolar people thought their depressions more stressful for their partners, the partners voted overwhelmingly for the highs.
Even so the quality of happiness in a high is so good that I don't reckon the average mood over the family is necessarily negative. But I don't tend to do terribly dreadful things; a colleague at work said her bipolar father bought cars and pets; I buy shiny orange plastic toys. I'm sure I could do dreadful things; I just haven't yet. Which I guess explains the family angst somewhat.
It's not difficult to find reasons why I am not allowed to stay extraordinarily happy. What is difficult is finding reasons that fit in with the general "happy is good" zeitgeist. None of these books had a reference to bipolar/MD in the index. Actimel Woman is clearly high and out of control, but you're meant to buy the yoghurt anyway.
Most people think manic depression is a particularly severe form of depression (Marvin said that he was a manically depressed robot but never seemed to get high). Most people have never heard of bipolar disorder (affects 1 in a 100 but most of those drop out of society one way or another). I will be fascinated to see how much Stephen Fry's upcoming documentary changes things.
I like being happy. I like being very happy. Maybe it's better to achieve it without the chemical shortcut but better in what sense?
Son hates Actimel Woman. I wonder why.
It is very odd to live in a society that has decided that happiness is the ultimate aim (religious types might disagree but even they are supposed to be working towards god-provided bliss).
There keep being articles about the Eastern wisdom of the Bhutans(I think its Bhutan), who have replaced GNP with GHP. There don't seem to be any dissenting voices; happiness is so obviously the aim of life I guess.
Except that if it was I'd be way ahead. For I give Actimel Woman a good run for her money regularly. And instead of congratulations I get nine different tablets from the psychiatrist.
I thought maybe the aim was genuine happiness. Except that happiness is an emotion- it doesn't come in fake varieties. When I am high I am at least as happy as I was when, say, I got married or opened my copy of Roads and Boats. It's jolly good happiness too; solid through and through.
So maybe the problem is that being high makes me unhappy later. It certainly makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable, but I get far more highs than lows and the average is definitely a high plus.
It doesn't make family happy. They fret in a way I find difficult to measure, as I don't notice it at the time. Recent survey of bipolar people and their partners showed that while bipolar people thought their depressions more stressful for their partners, the partners voted overwhelmingly for the highs.
Even so the quality of happiness in a high is so good that I don't reckon the average mood over the family is necessarily negative. But I don't tend to do terribly dreadful things; a colleague at work said her bipolar father bought cars and pets; I buy shiny orange plastic toys. I'm sure I could do dreadful things; I just haven't yet. Which I guess explains the family angst somewhat.
It's not difficult to find reasons why I am not allowed to stay extraordinarily happy. What is difficult is finding reasons that fit in with the general "happy is good" zeitgeist. None of these books had a reference to bipolar/MD in the index. Actimel Woman is clearly high and out of control, but you're meant to buy the yoghurt anyway.
Most people think manic depression is a particularly severe form of depression (Marvin said that he was a manically depressed robot but never seemed to get high). Most people have never heard of bipolar disorder (affects 1 in a 100 but most of those drop out of society one way or another). I will be fascinated to see how much Stephen Fry's upcoming documentary changes things.
I like being happy. I like being very happy. Maybe it's better to achieve it without the chemical shortcut but better in what sense?
# posted by Louise H @ 3:22 pm 
