03 Oct Where do you look for happiness?
The following short article is another great happiness story from The Happiness Project. Please check out the original blog posting (http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project) and I hope you find some happiness in Gretchin’s wise words.
What a visit to Google taught me about happiness (a lesson I”m just understanding now).
I have a close friend who works for Google, and when I was in California a while ago, I went to work with her for the day. While she did her thing, I worked on my laptop in a conference room.
The Google offices were just like the articles describe. Dogs everywhere, people sitting on exercise balls instead of desk chairs, pool tables here and there, scooters to take you from building to building, and lots of free food and drink.
I was describing it to someone last night, and heard myself waxing enthusiastic: “They had healthy food, like cereal and fruit! And coffee, and different teas, and soda! All right there, you could just take it!”
Then it hit me. Cerealê¢__‘Ô_fruitê¢__‘Ô_coffeeê¢__‘Ô_Diet Coke. Just the kind of thing that’s freely available in MY OWN APARTMENT. Every day, for at least part of the day, if not the entire day, I work from home, where such a cornucopia is right at hand.
The things that seemed like such treats when I found them at Google were, in fact, the staples of my own house.
I realized yet again the peerless wisdom of Samuel Johnson, who told Boswell, ‘sir, it is surprising how people will go to a distance for what they may have at home.”