28 Nov Happiness, busyness and holidays
In the paper, Communicating and Philosophizing about Authenticity and Inauthenticity in a Fast-Paced World, Becky DeGreeff, Ann Burnett and Dennis Cooley at North Dakota State University suggest that living life in the fast lane is actually preventing us from achieving true happiness.
So first, let me ask, how busy are you on a scale of 1-10, where
- 1 = you feel calm and in control: you have plenty of time every day to put your feet up, twiddle your thumbs and contemplate your navel
- 10 = you feel tired and overstretched: your daily activities or appointments are starting to overlap, and you couldn_ã_t get them all done if you didn_ã_t multitask, grab lunch on the go and use your commuting time at both ends of the day to answer emails via your cell phone or Blackberry
I asked this of a group I was working with the other day; 90% of them said they were 8 or above every day, including weekends. I bet the vast majority of you are also on the wrong side of 5, that is, your lives are hectic combinations of work commitments, social activities, family gatherings, shopping trips, visits to the gym, running round organizing the kids _ã_and maybe even study on top of that. _ã–Running to stand still,_ã was how one described how he felt most of the time. _ã–Feeling that everyone and everything is overtaking me,_ã said another. _ã–Frightened that I_ã_ll lose control if I stop,_ã said a third. Who doesn_ã_t feel like this quite a lot of the time?
Interested in reading more about busyness and happiness? The just…click here