Happiness is subversive

Comments

5 responses to “Happiness is subversive”

1. 

   May 29, 2007

   Russell Quinn

   Hi there,

   I’ve been reading your blog for a while and your career in “being happy” got me thinking.

   Can an occupation in promoting an emotion like your own happiness be compared to something like an athlete? and what happens when it’s over?

   For example, you can train yourself to be happier and work at improving your own happiness, in the same way as you can train your muscles to be a better runner. You can eventually become known as a “happiness officer” or an “athlete”.

   But, in the same way that something unforeseen and out of your control, like a broken leg, can happen end your athletic career, a major trauma could send you into a spiral of depression and end your career in happiness.

   I guess my point of this.. is that i was considering these two statements and how the public would react to them:

   “I used to be an athlete, but a broken leg meant I had to give it up 5 years ago”, and

   “I used to promote happiness, but a period of depression meant i gave it up”

   They are both really the same thing after all.

   Sorry for going off at a tangent ;)
2. August 9, 2007

   Ask the CHO: What if you suddenly stopped being happy?

   […] Quinn asks a very interesting question in a comment: I
3. 

   August 9, 2007

   Alexander

   Thanks for a great question Russell. I took a stab at answering it here:
   https://positivesharing.com/2007/08/ask-the-cho-what-if-you-suddenly-stopped-being-happy/
4. 

   August 9, 2007

   Russell Quinn

   Excellent, and your answer is great… although my name is spelt wrong in the opening sentence :(
5. 

   August 10, 2007

   Alexander

   Glad you liked it. And I fixed the spelling (oops).

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