The 1-2-3's of Taking Ethical Responsibility for Sustaining YOUR HappinessI had a lovely meeting with my television agent today, he was in San Francisco from New York for the Green Fest. We were going over my work in sustainable happiness and he brought up a great idea: Ethical Happiness.
As many of you have come to find out, all those people, places, and things do not lead to your happiness at all! It may give you some pleasurable hedonistic feelings yet it absolutely does not lead you to lasting happiness. This brings me to the idea of responsibility as a part of your ethical happiness. Think about it backward… Instead of thinking that you need to go out and get those people, places, and things to make you happy, think about it from the perspective of those people, places and things. Do they feel a responsibility for your happiness? NO! They have no idea what truly makes you feel happy, only you do. Not only that, it is not fair to put the responsibility of your lasting happiness on the people, places and things. If you do this, you are not setting yourself up for success. This pursuit of happiness, the hedonic treadmill, will make you feel like a dog chasing your tail! I would even go as far to say as it will lead you straight to unhappiness! Instead, empower yourself, take responsibility for your happiness. No one, no place, and no thing is going to tell you if you are being authentic, using your strengths and feeling a sense of meaning and purpose. Only you can be held ethically accountable and responsible for your eudaimonic happiness. I give free consultations to anyone who wants to learn more about my work and my services and almost every person who talks to me about their happiness and usually they talk about all these reasons why they are not happy. It turns out that our circumstances are not always in our control so even if we arrange our lives exactly to be what we think will "make us happy" BAM! Something happens and we get caught off guard, we get a divorce, we get fired, our parents are dying, we are diagnosed with cancer and you can fill in the blank. What can we depend on in the end if our circumstances are outside of our control? Ourselves. That is it. Only you are ethically responsible for your sustainable happiness!
Once you really have understood that concept, ask yourself: Get on the Eudaimonic (Sustainable) happiness treadmill, oh wait, this type of happiness is not like the other one, because it actually leads somewhere! Dr. Aymee Coget is CEO of the American Happiness Association.
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What the heck is that? Ethical happiness is the way to go, it is our duty, it is our birthright. This is what everyone, even our parents want for us. They just want us to be happy right? Well there we go, running on the Hedonic Treadmill trying like a dog chasing our tail to get that next person, place or thing that is going to 'make us happy.' Doing what the American Constitution tells us to do, pursue happiness!
