Weiner’s experiment of going to happy places was born out of curiosity. As a foreign correspondent, he has been to Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., generally unhappy places, and wrote about stories of gloomy and unhappy people. Then one day, it occurred to him – what if you live in a wealthy place and you don’t need to pay taxes? What if you lived in a place where failure is an option? Would these make you happy? And that started his adventure.
Weiner, though a generally unhappy person, mentions a thought-provoking perspective on happiness. He says that “Happiness is not inside of us but out there. Or, to be more precise, the line between out there and in there is not as sharply defined as what we think.”
He connects this with an analogy which a philosopher named Alan Watts once used which goes: “If I draw a circle, most people when asked what I have drawn, will say I have drawn a circle or a disc, or a ball. Very few people will say I’ve drawn a hole in the wall, because most people think of the inside first, rather than thinking of the outside. But actually these two sides go together – you cannot have what is ‘in here’ unless you have what is ‘out there’. Or as Weiner simply puts it - “where we are is vital to who we are.” ‘Where’, meaning not just the physical but the cultural environment as well.
Weiner’s experiment brings him to 10 happy places all over the world. So far, I have just finished 2 – Switzerland and Bhutan. It’s a very, very interesting read. One of the best travel books I’ve ever came across. I’ll share with you more next time. :)
In the meantime, don’t be too hooked up on searching for happiness. As Weiner reminds us, “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness”. But pardon Weiner for still doing it. After all, he says, since he's unhappy, there's nothing to lose. At least he's one unhappy optimist. :)
