Happiness

We just came in from a walk in the park. While we were there, three boys arrived on bikes and began pedaling the loop the other way round. This happens quite often. Sometimes the kids haven't been on wheels for very long and you can't tell which way they are going to wobble, so we get off the path onto the grass until they have gone by. These boys were different. When they saw us doddering along, Dorothy with her walker and me with my walking poles, they got off the path and let us pass. They must have gracious parents.

That got me thinking. Sorry. Nothing else to do this afternoon.

There are just a few thoughts that I claim as my own. Among them is the dimension of social currency which I call the 3Gs: Grace, Gratitude and Generosity. When I say this thought is my own, I mean I didn't read it or hear it in a sermon. The 3Gs are standard equipment with this model of mind. You've got them too. Check inside and see how they work.

Or you can read this note to get a hint of what I am thinking.

We are born into a state of grace, helpless and needy, worthy of care only because of the love of our parents and their response to our crying. As we grow, learn to look after ourselves and become productive adults, we are less needy. But the neediness is always there even when we are most capable and productive. 

We may imagine we are independent, but that is never quite true. I got out of bed at 18°C this morning. It was 3°C outside. We needed that heat pump to keep us warm all night. There would be no heat pump without the engineers, factory workers and office staff that kept that business going, and the schools that prepared them to do their work. 

You don't want me to recite the chain of supply behind breakfast, lunch, supper, garbage collection, TV, internet, medical and emergency services, pension, clothing, building construction, military, OK that's enough. We are absolutely dependent on each other. Some degree of autonomy is what we get in return for doing our part in caring for the endlessly needy world. But we remain needy all the time for nearly everything because we can't do very much alone.

Still not convinced? It's easy to imagine that we are capable, self-sufficient people who need to be left to our own devices and not hampered with petty laws; like Haiti, for example, and many other places where civilization is unravelling while I write this little note all warm an cozy at my desk sheltered in a democracy at peace. If we don't get what we need or want from living together, our default instinct is to look after ourselves. So just send $250 and you can triple your investment in a month. That's what Vladimir did, and look where he lives.

No, don't send money, please. I'm just making the point that if we don't take the 3Gs seriously, we enable the sociopaths, and then it's extortion and fraud, or guns and street gangs, or drones and missiles, or mysterious death in prison. Without the 3Gs we are in constant danger and our children go unfed.

So part of the recipe for happiness is the 3Gs.

Grace: know that life is a gift unearned.

Gratitude: practice thanksgiving.

Generosity: be gracious.

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That's 575 words. Too much time on my hands.

Hedonic Adaptation: more words about happiness by Elizabeth Scott, Verywell Mind

Historic First Nations Donations to Irish Famine Relief: CBC News