Chris Jepson: Of course, better hors d'oeuvres

I read in last week’s Orlando Sentinel that Winter Park’s very own Vice Mayor Sarah Sprinkel proclaimed this past Monday (Feb. 29) as a day of happiness in our fair city. I thought, “How sweet,” but immediately worried that all our Winter Park happiness wouldn’t cross municipal borders and Maitland, alas, couldn’t share in our happiness. Let alone Orlando. And, of course, what happens at midnight? Does a dark cloud of despair, once beat back by our officially proclaimed happiness roll over I-4 at the bewitching hour, engulfing Winter Park?

Vice Mayor Sprinkel’s proclamation was actually a promotion of a Rollins College Center for Health Innovation program on how to be happier in an hour and a half. Not that it takes only 90 minutes to be happier but that was how long the session on happiness actually lasted. Tip: I’m always happier when refreshments are served at such events. I’m sure they were. Actually the better the hors d'oeuvres, the happier I am.

I’m as much into happiness as the next guy. Perhaps even more so. I’ve given speeches on the subject but I claim no special reservoir of knowledge on the topic. I did due diligence researching the subject and wasn’t surprised at what is required to be happy.

I ask, “Where does personal happiness fall in the ‘spectrum’ of the meaning of life?”

Is life meant to be happy? Is happiness the goal of human existence? What exactly constitutes happiness? Is there a universal standard for happiness? What percentage of our day should we be happy? Is it possible to achieve greater happiness by simply thinking (talking) about “it?”

There’s happiness and then there’s happiness. The ecstasy of an early romance is one kind of happiness. The happiness of a lifelong committed relationship quite another. The happiness derived from a job well done is different from the happiness of a healthy newborn child and mother. I could go on and on and on differentiating “degrees” of happiness but I return to my earlier question, “Is happiness the goal of human existence?”

I will now challenge some by asserting that human life has no meaning but what we as individuals bring to it. Those who subscribe to the idea that human beings are the intentional creation of a god cannot imagine a perspective “that human life has no meaning but what we as individuals bring to it.”

Regardless of “how” we as a species arrived on Earth and irrespective of our individual creation myths, I assert one’s personal happiness is critical when determining what—at the end of the day—constituted a rewarding life.

Some, by disposition (genetics), have a difficult time with happiness. I do my best to avoid such individuals. By and large, most of us are born with the capacity to find joy in life. This is why the best gift any of us ever receive in life is that of the “good mother.” She starts within each of us the ability to wonder with amazement at life, to overcome difficulties with determination and to live joyfully in a world of sorrow.

I imagine any curriculum on happiness discusses “knowing yourself,” the critical importance of relationships (friends and family), as well as staying physically active and intellectually stimulated. I would include serving something larger than yourself (a cleaner planet, a more just world, an emergency room volunteer, etc.).

One final plug: You want to be happier? Seriously? Be kinder.

Oh, and better hors d'oeuvres. Of course.