I am not the kind of person who wants to be happy all the time. Actually, I am a wallower - sitting in pain is somehow worthy of time. But sometimes I get stuck. And lately, I have been deep in the mud. So I invited Cassie Holmes, a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management to talk about her new book, “Happier Hour.”
Being happy all the time is WAY too much pressure for me, and I also think that humans were not really meant to be that way for survival purposes. And yet, the pandemic highlighted the fragility and pointlessness of everything in a way that dulled my senses in all directions.
There is also some guilt in longing to be happy again as if this life that I do have is not enough. Happier Hour takes a new approach to think about finding joy: data. Cassie goes through step by step using behavioral science to help us make an action plan, which is essential for the creation of joy.
Is it unromantic to think about joy in terms of orchestration? And not of a random set of occurrences that somehow fall together magically in a moment resulting in unexpected elation? I think not. Sometimes when you are so low, it doesn’t matter if you follow a recipe to feel joy, joy can be felt just the same.
Thanks for being here with me. I hope you find joy or joy finds you real soon.
Much love, Carissa
How to Expand Time to Be Happier