If This isn't Nice, What is?

When Kurt Vonnegut spoke to Graduates in Georgia 1999, he told them many important truths. In reading this speech, it was what Vonnegut's Uncle Alex said which I was interested in the most.

"But about my Uncle Alex, who is up in Heaven now. One of the things he found objectionable about human beings was that they so rarely noticed it when they were happy"

This has struck a chord in me. I have thought about all the times I'd complained about anything at all. I thought about all the times when the news was bad and all the times when the topic of conversation was cynical - how very British: "Isn't the weather terrible?".

Perhaps the reason we notice when we're sad is because it's unusual to us. Most of the time we are content. When your nose isn't running and your throat isn't sore, you don't think about the fact that your nostrils are clear or your throat doesn't hurt because normally its okay. We notice the bad more than the good and we forget that life is better than we think it is.

Often, so much is to do with jealousy and considering what others have that we don't. Think about it. You've survived with what you have now for a long time. Do you really need more? I suppose now would be the perfect time to haul out the cliché that money doesn't buy you happiness. In a way, money adds to your general comfort and decreases stress when you know that you have enough. But, we too often think about what we don't have. We too often think about what could go wrong instead of what could go right. There is a little cynic in all of us.

I think the fact that we rarely notice it, says a lot about human happiness . I've tried to notice when I'm happy and to say or think, in the words of Vonnegut 'If this isn't nice? what is?'. As a humanity, we are rarely satisfied, constantly seeking happiness when the trick is to just accept the here and now instead of seeking it relentlessly. I don't know if there will ever be a means to an end in terms of seeking true happiness.

I think it's fascinating that happiness is something that so many great thinkers have considered and discussed be it Kurt Vonnegut, Blaise Pascal, Friedrich Nietzsche etc. It just proves even more just how much it matters to us and how much we seek it. I'm not going to put myself on par with these great thinkers but I'd at least like to contribute to the bigger questions.