Happy

  What does it mean to be happy? I have just finished watching a movie called "Happy." (thehappymovie.com) It was such a good film, and on top of it, the film taught me something and I would like to share it. Besides the things that make us happy, the film talks about something called "flow." No, not the progressive commercial Flow but something that is not seen or heard but rather felt. Flow, as I understand it, is a process/ mental state that you are fully immersed in when you are doing something you enjoy.
  I will reference my own example of reading. Have you ever read a book that was so good you have either read the entire thing in one sitting or surpassed you goal of reading at least one chapter a night? If so, you have experienced flow. I sometimes get so involved in a process, whether it be reading, cleaning, writing etc that I do not notice that a huge chunk of time has passed; say three hours. that is flow. I am not saying flow is a bad thing, made to "eat up" your day. it is, rather, a good thing. It's the positive flow you want to get caught up in.
  The film as a whole is something I think all schools should show. It promotes flow of course, but it promotes interdependency, (who said that was a bad thing anyway?) community involvement, anti-bullying and a way to say "Hey! My live is great the way it is."
  I will give just a few examples of the movie that exemplify the latter par of the list above: The first, is about a woman who was very beautiful. She had children, a husband who loved her, she raised horses and had a wonderful life. She was talking to her sister in-law, who was sitting in a truck, this woman was talking to her from the outside of the truck. they had a disagreement  and the sister in-law drove off in anger, not knowing this woman's hand was holing onto the handle of her truck. The sister in-law wound up dragging this beautiful woman until her had dislodged and was run over by the truck. Needless to say, the woman survived after thirty-two surgeries. She has had her face reconstructed and is living a normal life, is re-married and still raises her horses. She is still happy despite her story. The second story, deals with happiness as it relates to community involvement. In Denmark, there is a thing called community housing. This is where a building is shared by multiple families who have their own apartments/flats and share responsibilities such as cooking, gardening, cleaning, watching each other children etc. Denmark is considered the happiest country in the world and some would attribute this as being one of the reasons. These community living spaces provides friendship, a sense of family, an stress reduced environment and community involvement of each member no matter what age or skill level. The third, and last example I will give is a island called Okinawa. (You should remember this name since it is in your history books in the WWII era.) The story involving this island also involves the sense of community and the greatest amount of oldest living people. The island has a culture steeped in working together. The film interviewed a group of women who basically interact with one another on a daily bases. Since most of their family was killed during WWII, they take care of each other and have, over time, developed a bond where the friends act like their family. They take care of each other when they are sick, or need someone to talk to etc. It was really something to see how they all get together on a regular basis. As apposed to the man from Japan, who talks about work being more important than his spouse.(Japan is the least happiest country and people ate literally working themselves to death in that country. Heart breaking to say the least.)
  The film is very eye opening. I would suggest this film to anyone looking for something interesting to watch. It is a film that will spur conversations to be sure. (Such as this  blog. ) The question I ask now is, "How happy are you?" Maybe some life changes, however small, are in order. Maybe this could lead to a happier life. Pay it forward,involve yourself more in the community, execute acts of charity or Philanthropy, or even just spend more time with your family. What ever it is, what are you waiting for, be happy!