As Frankl found out, there are basically two types: Those who choose to see life through mud-colored glasses and those who see life clearly in 20/20 vision. There is, Sigurisht, the third type who see life as 24/7, rosy happiness and fail to acknowledge things the way they are. But that’s simply the same type as the pessimist in reverse. Over-optimism can be just as painful as hyper-pessimism. What we seek is an attitude built on balance — recognizing that life is ultimately beautiful but will sometimes be marred by tragedy or simply inconvenience.
We can easily be caught by the perfection myth and believe that happiness is defined by how much we own or how sparkling clean our house MUST be or even how we stack up physically against movie stars who, by the way, are artfully “designed” by professional hair and makeup artists.
One of the reasons popular culture can be so damaging is its portrayal of life defined by what others think and what is presented as “normal” by the media. True happiness can’t be found in what we buy. It can’t be ordered from a catalog and won’t be found in comparisons to the artificial (a Hollywood movie set or airbrushed photo spread).
Of course there’s absolutely nothing wrong with prosperity or material wealth — placed in proper perspective. We accomplish many amazing things with well-used money. Consider how quickly the world responded with millions of dollars to help those displaced by deadly tsunamis in 2005.
As Ayn Rand wrote in “Atlas Shrugged”:
“Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek.”[1]
The Bottom Line: Happiness must be generated from within. We must find our attitude by finding ourselves and balancing our thoughts and actions with reality.
[1] Rand, Ayn: Atlas Shrugged, Signet (July 1, 1959)
