i live in hollywood. you may think people in such a glamorous, fun-filled place are happier than others. if so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness. many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. the truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. fun is what we experience during an act. happiness is what we experience after an act. it is a deeper, more abiding emotion.
going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. but they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.i have often thought that if hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. these rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to glamorous parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells "happiness".
but in memoir after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children, profound loneliness. the way people cling to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually diminishes their chances of ever attaining real happiness. if fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. but, in fact, the opposite is true: more times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
as a result, many people avoid the very endeavors that are the source of true happiness. they fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, civic or charitable work, and self-improvement.
我住在好莱坞。你可能认为住在这样一个魅力四射、充满欢笑的地方要比其他人更幸福。如果是这样,你就误解了幸福的本质。许多聪明的人仍然视幸福为乐趣。事实是,乐趣和幸福很少或没有共通点。有趣的是我们在一个行为期间经历的。幸福是我们在一个行为之后经历的。这是一种更深层、更持久的情感。 去游乐园或球赛,看电影或电视,有趣的活动可以帮助我们放松,暂时忘记我们的问题,甚至大笑。但是,这一切并不能带来幸福,因为娱乐结束结束,它们的正面效应。我常常这样想,如果好莱坞明星起到某种作用,它是教我们,幸福与快乐无关。个人,他们富有,楚楚动人,不断获得迷人的聚会,名车,豪宅,每件事物都在拼写着“幸福”。 但在自传回忆录后,名流们揭示了隐藏在背后的不幸他们所有的乐趣:抑郁、酗酒,吸毒,婚姻破裂、陷入困境的孩子,深刻的孤独。人们坚持相信充满乐趣、没有痛苦的生活相当于幸福实际上减少了他们获得真正幸福的机会。如果娱乐和快乐等同于幸福的话,那么痛苦必然等同于不幸福。但事实上,情况恰恰相反:很多情况下,涉及到一些痛苦导致幸福的事情。 因此,许多人避免非常努力,真正的幸福的源泉。他们害怕疼痛不可避免地带来的诸如婚姻,抚养孩子,职业成就,宗教信仰,公民或慈善工作,自我完善。
