At my recent conference, the keynote speaker was standing on stage doing what felt like yelling to me, telling us to “be happy, be happy!” Is this a thing you believe in, the power of positivity? For me, I ask, what happened to balance in life? How do we know happy without sad? To me, it is completely unreasonable to ask someone to be happy all the time. It isn’t human or humane. it is sad when someone’s mom has cancer or a little boy loses his dog. Good grief, if there were no sadness we wouldn’t have the blue notebooks. What do you think?
© 2026 – SoulSequel
18 responses to “what are your thoughts on the happiness movement?”
I don’t believe that genuinely happy people need to shout it out loud in front of a bunch or people or stand in front of a mirror and repeat the phrase, “I am happy.” People who are happy just are without confirmation from others. Anyone who is trying to sell the notion that we should be happy all the time is out of touch with reality. Life is not that way. I think a better lesson would be to teach people, specifically children, how to cope with adversity. Not everybody deserves a trophy or a ribbon. If everyone is rewarded for effort, no one would strive for more.
@novelist65 I agree. I was talking to my friend the other day who is a blogger and he was expressing he couldn’t write right now because he was sad and people don’t want to read sad. I think that is a shame because writing the sad can be very therapeutic.
Only thing I can figure is maybe this is their balance. Maybe they are as pessimistic as I am or more so and this is how they balance that. They try to trick themselves into happiness. That stuff just isn’t for me though. I could probably do with a bit more optimism, but anything like this and I would feel like I am lying to myself. I just can’t ignore the world that I know exists to make myself happy to that degree. I would need to be ignorant of it. I wish them the best though, unless they are trying to get people to ignore the injustices in the world to become happy. Like, an ignorant person can be fine, but spreading ignorance is dangerous for everyone. That is my only concern. Other than that, go for it. Be happy.
@yin yeah, I think we all have to live in our truth, and maybe they need to fake it till they make it?
Off topic, I have been watching a series on amazon prime I think you would like. It is a few years old, not on anymore I don’t think. It is called The Killing. Its a crime/detective show.
@Scarlett2 Unfortunate since I only have Netflix currently. I looked it up and it says that it was canceled on AMC after the third season, but Netflix renewed it for a six episode fourth season to end it, but none of it is now on Netflix. So weird.
It reminds me of those long ago speeches by Zig Ziggler. Always being happy is fake. Life is not always happy. But, there are times when I am low and have to ask myself, am I comfortable? If the answer is no, then I get comfortable. Am I inside, out of the sun? Do I have a nice chair to sit it? Do I have a nice place to take a nap? Nice clothing to wear? Plenty to eat? A nice drink? A kitty cat bugging me to pet him? Then, I am happy. It doesn’t take much. I am always in the moment.
To some, a hot bath and glass of wine while a loyal doggie stands guard would be happiness.
I am relatively happy right now. I have a crushed disk and fractured spine that is causing me pain whenever I move, but, I am sitting still and found a comfortable position that relieves some of the pain. I am happy.
I don’t think someone yelling at me to be happy would make me want to be happy. Happy comes from creating contented moments in life. Sometimes, it is returning home, to be greeted by a loving doggy. I am a cat person, so it is returning home to be ignored by my apathetic cats. Happy is just something that comes with living life.
@ladybarbara I think it is good to have coping mechanisms like that and do things to get ourselves in a better place.
It feels like some people trying to give/sell a message or a drug to a society struggling with trying to figure out who they are and what they’re here for.
I don’t buy it. There’s a time for all things under the sun, whether it’s to laugh or cry.
In my mind, we’re at this point because people are being told things like they deserve to be happy, or to have some benefit or right, have things their neighbor has, life is fair, etc. When people are told these things, and believe them, when they see it not turn out that way they’re left depressed and discontent.
Now bring in the motivational speakers as the cure to all this anxiety.
I don’t buy it.
“This life’s hard, man, but it’s harder if you’re stupid”
Everyone should make life less hard on themselves, through educating themselves. That doesn’t mean public or paid education either. We now live in a time where we have the most amount of information at our finger tips than any other generation previously, but at the same time we’re the least informed. We have a lot of learning to do that we can do for free, before paying for education can have any ROI.
@Weenis this speaker mentioned exactly that, that everyone is selling happiness and that we need to try to sell it, too!
@Scarlett2
I don’t know how healthy that is.
I think Robin Williams was a happiness salesman, and we know how that turned out.
@Weenis
Being a happiness salesman leads to depression and suicide?
He had issues anyway. I don’t think one has to do with the other in his case.
@Santa Bunny
That’s not what I said. I said, “I don’t know how healthy that is.” As in, mentally healthy. To just go around being happy all the time isn’t an appropriate reflection of reality. Throughout the day we have ups and downs, good times and bad times.
What I see oftentimes is people being happy in a situation where happiness isn’t appropriate.
My reference to Robin Williams was that he was a happiness salesman, and always had an air of happiness, but really, he wasn’t mentally strong, and had many issues that reflected his lack of mental health.
@Weenis
He saw the public laughing and joking, all because he was acting the fool or ‘selling happiness’. In his mind, he was doing what should be done. We were laughing.
It was appropriate for us, just not for his mental well being.
My thoughts on the happiness movement…a good movement in the morning, makes me happy. It clears my intestines and makes room for whatever I’ll ingest and digest later.
I agree, we do not have true happiness in our hearts, without being able to experience such feelings as emphatic sadness. And other emphatic feelings, which may include anger at wrongdoing that hurts weaker others.
Otherwise, I do not believe that people should “fake it till they make it”, when it comes to happiness. I am truly happy right now, and I am not faking it. I have genuine peace and joy in my heart.
This should be the default state we live in.
But, we would not be able to have such a state if we ignored wrongdoing in the world. Because we would not deserve such a state.
Why not try to he happy as much as you can?
Just a thought…
…and then there is this…