More than a feeling

I'm not one of those pointy-heads who automatically discounts anything Oprah touts. (Just ask Jonathan Franzen what happens when you do that!)

"Even the ancient philosophers struggled to agree on the definition of happiness. For example, consider the battle between Epicurus and Epictetus.

Epicurus (341–270 BCE) led a school of thought named after himself—Epicureanism—that argued that a happy life requires two things: ataraxia (freedom from mental disturbance) and aponia (the absence of physical pain). His philosophy might be characterized as "If it is scary or painful, avoid it." Epicureans saw discomfort as generally negative, and thus the elimination of threats and problems as the key to a happier life. Not that they were lazy or unmotivated. They didn't see enduring fear and pain as inherently necessary or beneficial, and they focused instead on enjoying life.

Epictetus lived about three hundred years after Epicurus and was one of the most prominent Stoic philosophers. He believed happiness comes from finding life's purpose, accepting one's fate, and behaving morally regardless of the personal cost—and he didn't think much of Epicurus's feel-good beliefs. His philosophy could be summarized as "Grow a spine and do your duty." People who followed a Stoic style saw happiness as something earned through a good deal of sacrifice. Not surprisingly, Stoics were generally hard workers who lived for the future and were willing to incur substantial personal cost to meet their life's purpose (as they saw it) without much complaining. They saw the key to happiness as accepting pain and fear, not actively avoiding them.

Today, people still break down along Epicurean and Stoic lines—they look for happiness either in feeling good or in doing their duty. And the definitions only multiply from there, especially as we travel around the world. Take, for example, the differences scholars find between Western and Eastern cultures.[ 4] In the West, happiness is usually defined in terms of excitement and achievement. Meanwhile, in Asia, happiness is most often defined in terms of calm and contentment.

Definitions of happiness even depend on the word for it. In Germanic languages, happiness is rooted in words related to fortune or positive fate.[ 5] In fact, happiness comes from the Old Norse happ, which means "luck."[ 6] Meanwhile, in Latin-based languages, the term comes from felicitas, which referred in ancient Rome not just to good luck but also to growth, fertility, and prosperity.[ 7] Other languages have special words just for the subject. Danes often describe happiness in terms of hygge, which is something like coziness and comfortable conviviality.[ 8]

If happiness were really this subjective—or even worse, a matter of feelings at any given moment—there would be no way to study it. It would be like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall. This book would be two words long: good luck (or maybe good happ).

Fortunately, we can do a lot better than this today. It's true that different cultures define happiness somewhat differently, which is why the happiness comparisons among countries you always see in the news are not very useful or convincing. It is also true that feelings are associated with happiness. Your emotions affect how happy you are, and how happy you are affects all your emotions. But this doesn't mean that there are no constants across all people, or that happiness is a feeling..."

— Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier by Arthur C. Brooks, Oprah Winfrey