Aug 11 2009
Chasing the Good Life
Man, wouldn’t that 42 inch plasma television make my life great(er)! Of course, I just may habituate to that change in my life after a number of weeks or months, and the new tv will no longer bring the satisfaction it once did. Hmm. A second home! That’s exactly what I need to make mine a good life!
Human beings can be materialistic for a number of reasons. One reason is that our possessions can function as status symbols. Yes, we are not only keeping up with the Jones’s, we’ve got it better! Another reason may be that possessions are concrete and specific. We can see, hear, feel, touch them. Attaining them is a more straightforward and simple matter than attaining, say, a state of mind.
What makes a life good? In a brief article over at the APS website (Association for Psychological science) I encountered this wonderful paragraph [source] -
So far we have learned from psychology that a good life includes experiencing more positive than negative feelings, feeling like your life has been lived well, continually using your talents and strengths, having close interpersonal relationships, being engaged at work and other activities, being a part of a social community, perceiving that life has a meaning, and feeling healthy and safe. And while these conclusions may seem like common sense, we as humans fall short on knowing just how to obtain and maintain these qualities.
As for as I know, neither Bloomingdale’s nor Walmart stocks their shelves with the above.
I find it interesting that all of the listed variables, aside from “feeling healthy and safe,” have a social component to them: either outright or as a contributing factor or context.
We are social animals. When our social life is good, we tend to be content.
