Comments on: Happiness? Get over it

By: h sofia

h sofia — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 19:21:03 +0000

Very interesting and useful information. I have already forwarded the link to this entry to several people.

By: chutney

chutney — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 20:19:16 +0000

Heh. No Dr. Phil stuff at all. Very anti-Phil. No cowboying up. Much more restful than that (though I’m only three chapters in).

By: duane

duane — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 16:31:40 +0000

I just hope it isn’t to the extreme of the Dr Phil method… I can’t stand how he works.

By: Louis

Louis — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 13:56:15 +0000

Very interesting. Never heard of this before, either. I have long thought that American culture over-emphasizes happiness and the appearance of happiness. This ACT therapy sounds more like where I am coming from – that you take life as a whole.

By: Kermit_Is

Kermit_Is — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 10:21:14 +0000

There was a big story in TIME magazine on ACT recently. I, too, noticed the similarities to Buddhism, which makes me interested in looking into it. Something always felt a little unnatural to me about the cognitive therapy I received. To return to the Buddhism metaphor, cognitive therapy would be like trying to meditate by shaping or suppressing your thoughts as they arise, whereas the Buddhist practice is to let them arise, but to note them for what they are, watching them arise and dissipate without trying to change or suppress them. ACT seems to be like the latter. On the other hand, the evangelistic zeal of some of its adherants makes me wary.

By: chutney

chutney — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 20:44:34 +0000

I’d guess they’d say the “benefit” is a full and meaningful life, whether or not it happened to be happy.

I certainly agree with you that happiness is possible. But so much of happiness depends on circumstance. If I am homeless, say, or a political prisoner, the odds that I can be legitimately happy really drop. But I can still choose to do everything I can to live a full and meaningful life despite those circumstance.

By: Braidwood

Braidwood — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:36:26 +0000

It sounds interesting! I want to read more about it. I wonder what benefit they are offering with their system since it doesn’t sound like it’s happiness? (It’s like relationship “experts” who say that it’s normal for people to be dissatisfied in marriage.)

Also, maybe happiness isn’t normal in the sense that it’s not average, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Look at the Dahli Lama, he looks pretty happy to me and he is doing the accepting the moment thing. I think there is a wider range of well being and suffering than people realize, just like there is a huge gap between how much money people have.

I think there are some people who are very happy. I just saw Sarah Jessica Parker last night say, “I am the definition of contentment.” I am not the defintion of contentment, but I’m amazed at how high my base line level of well being is now. I have ups and downs but the landscape the hills and valleys are on is much better now. Is that happiness?

By: CP

CP — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 18:16:30 +0000

interesting!