How Do You Define Happiness?
January 2025: Hang On, Voltaire
A few months ago, I started delivering a speech:
GRUNTLED: A Comedian’s Take on Happiness
Thought it might be fun to include some excerpts in my li’l monthly newsletter… here’s the intro:
As Voltaire once said, “If you wish to converse with me, define your terms.”
What is happiness?
Let’s maybe turn to a comedian…
OK, let’s just try the dictionary.
Great. Let’s try “disgruntled.”
Comedians love analyzing language, so if you can be disgruntled, can’t you be gruntled? It turns out… you can be.
And isn’t that our ultimate objective?
Here’s a modern interpretation of Buddhism:
One day, a man approached Buddha with a troubled expression. He said, "I want happiness."
Buddha looked at him calmly and replied, "First, let’s analyze your words. You said, ‘I want happiness.’ Let’s start by removing ‘I,’ because that’s your ego. What’s left?"
The man thought for a moment and said, "Want happiness."
Buddha continued, "Now, remove ‘want,’ because that’s your desire. What’s left?"
The man hesitated, then quietly said, "Happiness."
Buddha smiled gently and said, "Exactly. When you let go of ego and desire, what remains is happiness."
So, we’re not really supposed to aim directly for happiness. It’s a byproduct. But it’s tough to argue we all do want to be happy.
Let’s turn to a not-so-happy image.
I like to think of pain and pleasure like I think of wind during a storm. And we just experienced this first-hand in Los Angeles. There’s sustained wind and there are gusts. In LA, we kept hearing weather reports like, “Sustained wind of 60 miles per hour with gusts up to 100 miles per hour.”
In Stephen King’s book, On Writing, he says there are four types of writers: Bad, Competent, Good, and Great. The bad ones are hopeless and the great ones don't need his book. His promise is that he can take you from Competent to Good.
Similarly, with some tips and tricks (not gimmicks), I can take you from a sustained 5 to a 7. You might have gusts up to 9 and down to 5 but 7’s a good place to be.
How? Tune in next month.
Rajiv Satyal is a comedian and a Happiness Consultant. (A good title for now.) He resides in LA… still, by the grace of God.