Blog Post #2 - Happiness

According to dictionary.com, the official definition of happiness is the state of being delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing. I can agree with this definition. When i think of happiness I think of my family, sports and camping/canoeing. I am very happy when I am with my family or playing softball, volleyball or basketball. During the spring, the sun is shining, I am outside and i am doing the thing that I love. When I get a hit or throw someone out at a base it is the best feeling. Or in basketball when I drain a three, SWISH and the crowd goes wild. Another time I am probably at my very happiest is when I am camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters or Quetico. Just being outside all the time forces me to be happy. It is so beautiful. I love nature. There is no stress and you can be your true self to the few people you see.

 I like the idea of doing a happiness index. I don't think the happiest thing in life is having money or the best economy. If I was the leader of a country i would want my country to be as happy as they could in every possible way and to have people walking down the street smiling and being friendly to one another, not just to be rich. I think the best way to measure a nation's happiness is to do a mix of a happiness survey and an income survey. Money can make people happy but it also important to learn about what makes them the sad to stop those things from happening.


The story "I've Been Called A Luddite" is a story about a man who lives his life happily without technology. This man is a writer who hand writes his stories, goes out and buys one envelope at a time and mails everything. I think it implies that you do not need to have technology to be happy. I can understand where he is coming from and i agree with the idea that people don't need advanced things to be happy but I am not one of those people. I use technology daily, like right now for example blogging, and I think it is a very useful tool but I don't need it. I like to get away from it at times and just do everything with what you have from nature. A person can do things that are considered "old fashioned" and still do those things just as usefully.

When I think of happiness I do not think of technology. I think of doing the thing you love around the people you love, whether technology is involved or not. I believe that happiness is one of the most important things in a person's life.

Quetico Provincial Park, Canada

Quetico Provincial Park, Canada