Are you happy?
Long ago Aristotle concluded that the great majority of humanity seeks happiness.
Happiness is what we seek, but we also have other goals, like health, beauty, money and power. Except we only chase those goals because we think they will make us happy.
Despite the fact that humanity has social media, multi-use rockets, the capsule endoscopy, block chain technology, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, mobile operating systems (your phone), 3D printing, CRISPR (giving us the power to edit the genome), and last but not least, the Internet of Things (IoT), we still have a vast number of people who think their lives have meant nothing, that they’ve been wasted, that instead of being filled with joy and contentment, they feel that their lives have frittered away in boredom, struggle, and anxiety.
“Ask yourself whether you are happy,” said J.S. Mill, “and you cease to be so. It is by being fully involved in every detail of our lives, whether good or bad, that we find happiness, not by trying to look for it directly.”
Victor Frankl, the Austrian psychologist said, “Success is like happiness; It can’t be pursued.
It must derive from the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.”
I’ve had a number of personal dedications greater than myself. Without any knowledge, training, or skill I built a blanket chest for my wife when she was away, performing in Rhode Island for months. I have never worked so hard and felt so good. The chest is still in our house after more than 35 years.
I also worked myself to the bone to win a standing ovation In New Orleans for my portrayal of Benedick in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. My wife was there to see it. I was flooded with a sense of ease and gratitude for days after.
And I am also sure that many of you would agree that raising a child is being fully involved in every detail of your life. A child is a 24-hour job in personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.
There is a name for this experience–it’s called The Flow State. It’s the state in which you are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.
That’s when you’ll see your audience rise from their seats and applaud.