One Psychologist's Perspective on "Being Happy."

January 12, 2005
BE HAPPY ZONE
By Lionel Ketchian

Dr. Stuart Losen has attended the last two Happiness Club meetings. Dr. Losen is a Ph.D. who has practiced psychology for many years. He said that he came to a meeting to check out the Happiness Club because he had heard about us. I started to see that Dr. Losen was recommending people he knew attend my meetings. I then asked Dr. Losen for some thoughts on his experiences and what he thinks of the Happiness Club. This is what he had to present:

One Psychologist's Perspective on "Being Happy," by Stuart M. Losen, Ph.D.

"The way Lionel Ketchian tells it, in his role as leader of the "Happiness Club," a group that meets on the second or third Thursday of each month at Independence Town Hall in Fairfield, all that one needs to do to feel happy is to act as if they are happy. His advice to the thirty or forty people who fairly regularly attend the free-to-the public Happiness Club, is not to devote yourself to all the things you may be told you need to do to pursue happiness, nor try to deny those circumstances which persistently make you feel unhappy. But, instead, to simply adopt the attitude that, despite everything, you decided to be happy, and thereby are able to make the best choices.

Any skeptic would likely, at least at first, chuckle heartily over the prospect that one can actually attain a happy state, for any meaningful length of time, by merely accepting the idea that he or she is already happy and must therefor, act and or make decisions accordingly. But there is much to argue in support of Mr. Ketchian's approach, if you think about it. Over time there have been many similar recommended practical approaches to life's vicissitudes, as well as a variety of philosophic views to warrant one's serious consideration of Happiness Club's basic theme. For example, around the time Johnny Mercer wrote the popular song, "Accentuate the Positive," Rev. Norman Vincent Peal popularized the "Power of Positive Thinking" approach, a pragmatic philosophy intended to get one through the problems of the day. Then during the post World-War II era, Dale Carnegie promoted believing in one's ability to succeed by over coming self-doubts through presenting oneself as positively as possible to the public. Therefore, the Happiness Club's concept, i.e., "acting as if" you are happy in order to be happy, is not all that new or different.

Another contemporary example of the value of a positive attitude is Keith Harrell's approach to deal with negative, upsetting or frustrating experiences. Harrel, a television motivational speaker, insists that by thinking positively and by working hard to enhance your "Natural Born Abilities," you can learn what you need to do to improve. He says you can do this by examining every failure and making each frustrating experience the fuel for future success instead of letting it knock you down.

Indeed, the act of focusing upon the positive attitude of being happy has certain psychological advantages. A behavioral-learning theorist might argue that in the act of behaving happy, your body movements convey messages to your brain which is interpreted as (and thereby further reinforce) you perception of being happy. A Buddhist might reason that, while meditation or attending carefully and focusing upon one's inner-self and / or the awareness of being happy, one transcends or rises above more troublesome daily preoccupation's and achieves a healthier perspective from which to eventually make more prudent, and "rightful" decision. A clinical psychologist might state the case for adopting a happiness attitude, thinking you are happy, actually may distract you from more preoccupying self-doubts and thereby block you from acting impulsively or precipitously in a doubtful, hesitant, self-critical or possibly self-defeating manner.

So if indeed you are able to convince yourself that you are overall a happy person, that perspective in and of itself (much as meditation is often designed to gain perspective before taking action) may help you make more constructive decisions about any number of concerns. In other works, the more perception of oneself as being happy can enable one to transcend the moment, delay possibly non-helpful impulsive actions, and instead encourage the patience and more thoughtful deliberation necessary to make more constructive decisions.

One other theoretical framework, an orientation advocated ages ago by the "positives" philosophers John Dewey and Kurt Goldstein (Later translated into practical therapeutic method by Carl Rogers), emphasized the view that human beings are primarily guided by their inherent need to positively enhance or self-actualize themselves. Consequently, the human organism will always act in a way which one believes better realizes their potential. If one, therefore, believes that he or she is happy, there is a greater likelihood that this person will behave in such a way as to make more positive, self-realizing, constructive decisions than if they feel apprehensive or too constrained by inordinate self-questioning.

In conclusion, the perception of being happy probably does increase the likelihood of behaving happier, including making better choices in life. Of course, this assumes that by thinking happy one isn't simply indulging in pervasive denial, or neglecting important life or health decisions, which need to be made.

Consequently, perhaps only to prevent undue resort to denial, occasional reality checks, regarding one's state of happiness with an objective counselor, minister or trusted friend, might prove worthwhile. Similarly, by attending and expressing one's views during a meeting of the Happiness Club, one might also help gain consensual validation. Whatever, the basic concept advocated by Lionel Ketchian and the Happiness Club is...it is not one which ought to be ignored as too simplistic. The basic thinking behind the Club's affirmation of the value of being happy, is worthy of even an avowed skeptic's more thoughtful consideration." - Stuart M. Losen, Ph.D.

Thanks to Dr. Stuart M. Losen for his contribution to the Be Happy Zone. The answers to life are simple, the complexities lie within us.

Our next Happiness Club meeting will be on Thursday, January 20, from 7:00 - 9:00. The presentation will be "How to Have A Happy New Year!" It will be held at the Sullivan Independence Hall, Fairfield. Admission is free; everyone is welcome. Looking forward to seeing you. Come on down, meet some great people, get connected, and have a great year!