What really makes us happy?

Some people find happiness from their pets. Picture: istock

Happiness, or the pursuit thereof, is enshrined in that most august of documents, the US Constitution, along with the right to bear arms. To a distant observer the latter seems to have been achieved with bells on while the former is as elusive as the pot of gold allegedly located at the end of Judy Garland’s rainbow. Particularly if you happen to be black. No mention is made of happiness in our duller version, so perhaps it’s time to add it, along with constitutional recognition of the First Nations.

Americans pursue happiness in a vigorous variety of ways. Some find it in the possession of the weapons (up to and including, it would seem, cruise missiles) they see as officially promised if not mandated. Others find happiness in sex, children, Pentecostal pursuits or via drugs or shopping – that other opiate of the people. There is also that vast entertainment- industrial complex of movies, streaming services, ultraviolent video games. It seems the cup runneth over, yet enough unhappiness survives to power the Trump vote and his treasonous attack on the Capitol.

In Australia we briefly attain a hint of happiness by voting out an unpopular government to make way for another doomed to become unpopular. We also shop ‘til we drop, though this becomes difficult during high inflation when a strange melancholia sets in, except among the imperviously wealthy, whose self-indulgences on posh products have helped Bernard Arnault replace Elon Musk as the world’s richest person. Apparently Monsieur Arnault’s contribution to the civilisation of the one per cent is to provide them with handbags and the sweet smell of success in the form of the fug of stratospherically expensive perfumes.

What do the sages o’er the ages have to say about happiness? Albert Einstein sounded quite Buddhist when recommending that “a calm and modest life rather than the pursuit of success combined with a constant restlessness”. Buddha himself said, “There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path”. The Dalai Lama agrees. “Happiness is not something readymade – it comes from you own actions.” Moved by the Dalai Lama, seconded Eleanor Roosevelt: “Happiness is not a goal. It’s a by-product of a life well-lived.” Carried on the voices.

Voltaire said, probably in French, that “I have chosen to be happy because it’s good for my health”. Gabriel García Márquez concurred: “No medicine can cure what happiness cannot.” I concur with Charles M. Schulz, author of Peanuts, who believed that “Happiness is a warm puppy”. Or presumably a kitten if you’re not a dog person. Grumpy old Mark Twain could not be cajoled: “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.” But in a mellower mood Mr Clemens advised that “the best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer someone else up”. Ralph Waldo Emerson? “For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness”. One of my favourites comes from the Mahatma. Gandhi took time off from guiding India to guide us thus: “Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.”

You may believe that’s a waste of effort and opt for taking happy pills. Or go to the Giggle Palace at Luna Park. To each her own. Currently I’ve got a warm puppy.