On a recent Daily Show episode, John Stewart responded to President Obama's statement that "this is 
America: we don't do what's easy, we do what's necessary" by holding up a jar of Baconnaise. Stewart sarcastically retorted that Americans LOVE doing what's easy; so much that products exist like Baconnaise - for people who love bacon but don't actually want to exert the effort of cooking it! With the "happiness industry" rapidly on the rise, and the science of happiness rushing to keep up, do we expect that bliss-products and gurus will provide happiness to us with the same kind of ease? If so, I think we need to check our expectations.
I'm not saying Baconnaise bliss doesn't exist. Sometimes golden nuggets of joy just get handed to us without any work on our part - like running across a hilarious episode of the Daily Show or coming home to my enthusiastically loving dog Stella! But in the face of our current global challenges, not to mention the normal stresses of our daily lives, I think we need to be realistic here. Sometimes happiness requires effort; sometimes we have to be willing to get some blisters finding our bliss!
I'm fortunate that I'm in decent physical health right now; but, that doesn't mean I can officially give up my gym membership for life. Staying physically healthy requires being active and cultivating healthy eating habits every day of my life. I do it because I value my physical health. It's not always easy, but it's often times fun!
I view mental health and well-being (happiness, bliss...) exactly the same way. While some of us are more genetically predisposed to happiness than others (much like set point weight or cholesterol levels), most of us, including myself, require regular trips to the mind gym, so to speak, to cultivate healthy mental habits!
The cultivation of well-being looks different for everyone and doesn't necessarily mean being happy all the time. All emotions have adaptive functions: for example, anger tells us when we think something is unfair and the expression of sadness tells others when we need help. Life (and movies) would be boring without despair, rage, anxiety, jealousy and the like. But sometimes we get stuck in negative mindsets that weigh us down or no longer serve us well. How do we get out of them? And how do we foster resilience so we can be more proactive and perseverant in the face of daily stress? The idea isn't to completely replace unpleasant emotions with positive ones; rather, to provide tools to tip the balance more effectively.
President Obama charged us with actively participating in a "new era of responsibility," which requires effort on all our parts. So, while we're committed to bettering our country and our economy, why not also commit to bettering ourselves? My posts to this new column and my website will explore the many different ways we can cultivate a healthy mindset to enhance bliss in our daily lives. I focus on simple, research-based things we can do to improve our well-being in tangible and achievable ways. Happiness, bliss, contentment - these are all fleeting emotions we can either enhance through daily practice or ignore and hope they don't eventually atrophy, like our once muscular, now flabby, triceps.
I'll have my bliss with a side of blisters and hold the Baconnaise.
