recent research shows that unfortunate and stressed people are no more likely to succumb to ill-health or premature death than their cheerier counterpartsThe happiness industry – now contracted to refer to with everyone from corporate America to the US military – thinks your well-being is a matter of individual effort and personal responsibility. This is the American dream applied to the soul: the faith that if we put in enough emotional elbow grease,if we read enough self-help books and practice mindfulness and think positive and meditate and keep a gratitude journal, then we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps from distress to delight.
A thousand inspirational virtual photo-cards declare that happiness is a choice.’ Even the dictionary agrees. Although the word happiness originally came from the Middle English word “hap”, and meaning chance or edifying luck (think ‘happenstance’ or perhaps’),any belief that our own wellbeing may be outside of our direct control has been firmly squashed. Merriam Webster’s online dictionary now declares that the ancient definition of the word happiness as “edifying fortune” has become obsolete.
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Source: theguardian.com