Pursuit of Happiness

Read an morning this article about Wayman Tisdale, a former basketball player who upon shattering his leg after a fall discovered that he had cancer. After a career as an NBA player, he was soon reduced to only one leg because of cancer. The article highlights Tisdale's insistent attitude that helped him remain smiling and happy throughout the ordeal and as he adjusts to his new life.

People are remarkably resilient, even more so than we often give ourselves credit for. I wish I could find the images I have in mind, but there are some really interesting graphs that show levels of happiness over a period of time, and introduce into those graphs major life events. The most interesting come from things like sudden windfalls of money (e.g. inheritances, lottery winnings) or catatrosphic life events. People always have a certain baseline rate of happiness, and it can go up or down depending on what events play out. What's most interesting, however, is that people almost always return to their baseline, no matter how precipitous the circumstances might be.

Those who win the lottery will show a dramatic rise in their levels of happiness, but often will come crashing down to even below their previous baseline. And people suffering catastrophic life events endure a sharp decline, but normally return to their previous baseline levels.

Not really sure what the message here is. I guess maybe the important thing to remember is that happiness has very little to do with our external circumstances. Although those events can sometimes change the field of play, it's effect on the player himself is often very minimal. The key to raising our baseline levels is changing those internal factors within us that have more bearing on how we let the external affect the way we live and what we perceive our lives to be like.

It's all about perspective. Mary Ellen Edmunds told a story about a little boy living with his family in destitute surroundings having to cover himself at night with boards, wooden planks. Before going to bed he bewilderedly remarks to his mother, "can you believe that there are people in this world who have to go to sleep without boards to cover them up at night?"

Count your many blessings and see what God hath done.