What We're Reading Now

Is the Happiness Movement Hype?

8 September 2015

Allison read Happiness Isn’t the Absence of Negative Feelings by Jennifer Moss on HBR.org and appreciated some important reminders from an adherent to the happiness movement.

Tags: allison read, happiness

I read, write, and teach about happiness, but the real expert on our team about this subject is Rachel. I try to attend her Happiness Matters course whenever I can. It always includes her thoughts on the current research and even though I do my best to keep up with most of the happiness developments and practice many of the techniques the experts recommend, it takes continuous effort to choose happiness and no one inspires me to keep trying quite like Rachel does.

The happiness movement and more specifically, positive psychology, have taken some hits recently. That’s why I was glad to see one of its adherents, Jennifer Moss, co-founder of Plasticity, summarize some of those hits, explain the life event that brought her to the field, and reframe what often gets misunderstood about the happiness movement in her article, Happiness Isn’t the Absence of Negative Feelings. “Healthy positivity doesn’t mean cloaking your authentic feelings. Happiness is not the absence of suffering; it’s the ability to rebound from it. And happiness is not the same as joy or ecstasy; happiness includes contentment, well-being, and the emotional flexibility to experience a full range of emotions.”

Today is my first day back at work after a nine-day, email-free vacation. (Check back next Tuesday to learn more about why and how I do this.) As I was processing 804 emails, I found two that really made me pause. One client’s husband was diagnosed with cancer. It looks like a less aggressive, treatable cancer, but still. Another client had a serious accident and has surgery tomorrow with many months of rehabilitation in his future. Both of these clients have become very dear to me over the years. I rarely return to such sad news after one of my email breaks, and I was heartbroken.

Why am I telling you these stories? As I interacted briefly with each of these clients today, I watched how they named things they were grateful for and how they reached out to some of the important people in their lives for connection and help. I experienced some of those people reaching back. I have no idea if it was intentional, but they were doing many of the things the positive psychology experts recommend. I can’t imagine they’re feeling very happy at the moment, but I think their actions may be helping them navigate the suffering. One day, I will ask them what they think of this post, the article, and the techniques.

Whether you’re a skeptic, new to the happiness movement, or a believer who needs an infusion during a difficult time, I think the message in Happiness Isn’t the Absence of Negative Feelings will give you something to think about.

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