In Bounds by Jack MacKenzie, CGCS
Happiness, what is it? More than being unhappy, just so-so, or not bad? Is happiness a singular idea or an accumulation of points in an individual’s current time continuum? Is it fleeting or static, a reaction or a choice? Can it be given or taken away? An infection or predisposition? “Never Better”, is a response I have been saying for decades when asked about my present condition. The ensuring retort is often provocative to me as the respondent questions my sincerity, “Huh, never better, well you must have won the lottery. Or the simple, oh really?”, typically with an undertone of dissatisfaction in their own being.
do I get a positive response. Typically it is a ho-hum mundane answer having to do with marginal satisfaction with their job, what they would rather be doing, the weather or curiously what they haven’t got. What is interesting is that I didn’t ask them about their issue of the moment, I asked how they are doing. Too often, it seems to me, people base their well being on tangible objects, jealousy of time or materials or things completely out of their control like… snow.
When I travel, I tend to pursue Alaska Airlines, no, not just because of their incredible two-for-one airfares, but also when I need to call their service associates, they are consistently happy, from the first hello though the whole conversation. I have never felt that they are forcing this attitude; I have always believed that it is an organic ap As an extravert, I will ask oth- proach of being in good spirits. And ers how they are doing. Very rarely I suppose that it helps that I treat
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