Diane's自己的房間

    ‘Capitalism can make a society rich and keep it free. Don’t ask it to make you happy as well’ (The Economist, December 23^rd 2006)

    This is one of the compelling sentences I have read recently from magazines or newspapers, being rich and living freely seem to be the essentials in people’s life and the goals those people are always yearning to achieve. However, after we really achieve what we think, or others consider that we ought to be, are we REALLY HAPPY about that?

    What is happiness, where is it and how to have it? I think, first of all, we have to ask ourselves just one very simple question—maybe it is actually very hard to answer even it looks like not a hard one—How to measure happiness?

    Seeing those people who are called as rich people and definitely viewed as people owning countless valuable properties, do you think they are really happy? I used to watch the TV program which is a famous reality show ’The Apprentice’ produced and held by Donald Trump. To tell the truth I like his ways of thinking about his life, his career and how to survive and succeed in the cruel business world; however, I couldn’t stop wondering and questioning living a life like Donald is a happy life as to me? I don’t like control and being in charge of so many employees and companies, focus on a lot of numbers shown in my bank accounts or on the balance sheets or reports or laptop although I have an ability to deal with them well, that is not the way I feel happy to follow for getting a rich life full of a feeling called a real happiness to me, so I can easily judge and say aloud that it is not the happiness I am seeking to get and looking for.

    People are doing a variety of things, trying hard anywhere anytime to earn as much money as possible, involving different events and activities, learning as many skills or passing difficult exams and so on in their lives… it seems that people should not feel bored and disappointed in their lives because they are trying their best to do so many things so hard but why a larger proportion of them on earth still cannot feel they are really happy? 

    I always remember and like a sentence written by a female author who just passed away last month due to committing suicide for suffering from her very severe depression—maybe the best thing in life is doing nothing! Don’t say I am not realistic! At first when I read this, I felt she was just like a person without any sense of taking responsibility for herself… but now I think maybe part of her thoughts for writing this may be right—since doing many things still let people feel only tired and hopeless but no achievement or a feeling of happiness, so why not just let yourself doing nothing, not always but sometimes, sometimes moving forward without knowing a certain destination is far more dangerous than you just stop without making any movement.

    Stop to think about what kinds of values are essential to you? By doing what or getting what can make you say you are happy from the bottom of your heart? Answer them and the consequences you get for these questions are the places where lies your happiness—somewhere you must go and take a look at it!        

    This is the first time, you said to yourself, you got a feeling that it seems you are lost.
  
    Nothing to do with finding no directions about your life; still, you clearly know where you're going to go, I know that... you made the plan and promise yourself to go wherever you're determined to go, maybe during the process of making decisions or plans, some struggling or confusing things appear and bothered you but never stop you keeping going forward with full confidence and ambition, I am so glad and proud of your power and will.

    So what exactly it is? It is actually extremely hard to describe in words, I guess maybe, you got lost in accepting some facts of yourself, something that you hardly persuade yourself to believe and admit it is true.