- 知识就是力量 • 快乐有益健康

What's the secret of happiness?

【附】一个美国老人的感悟

Chris Ebbert October 9，2020

【编者按语】一个外国人对“幸福”的理解与中国人的“知足者长乐”如出一辙。请欣赏。

You won’t believe what I have to say about happiness. In fact, I fully expect about 97% of my readers to storm out of the room, shouting “BOLLOCKS!” after reading it.

I discovered it one smoggy afternoon in Shanghai, after years and years of misery with my own life. I was sitting in my living room at Yuyao Lu, and it just struck me. And I tried it. And it worked. Here it is now, free of charge, to all, no pressure to purchase, take it or leave it:

Happiness is instantly yours once you decide that you want it.

That’s it.

Ah, now I hear the masses howling already. “But… how…??? Just like that…???” To which I say, yes. Just like that. That’s the whole point of it, you see? If you are constantly tying happiness to conditions, you are simply never going to get it, because there is always another condition.

But if you just smirk and say to yourself, “you know what? I’ll just be happy now. And everything else be damned, even at the expense of possibly looking a little gaga.”

No one can tell you how to feel. But you can. Do it.

Yes, you can be happy in the midst of the biggest crisis. Just make peace with the concept that the way you feel no longer reflects what’s going around you. Waltz to your own tune, like one of those dudes on their skateboards, who wear headphones and have clearly detached themselves. Of course continue to make only supremely rational choices and keep dedicating yourself to all things that help build a successful life, but you are no longer dependent on having finished before you are allowed to be happy. I’ve been at it for almost ten years now, and it has been a triumph.

Best of luck.