TOGETHER
One thing makes us happy, so why are most of us are doing the complete opposite?
Some humans are dealt a good genetic hand, predisposed to being happier, less neurotic and nicer to be around. Many humans believe in karma, some fate, some that money buys happiness and some believe in ‘throwness”, that our experience is determined by where we're thrown into the world…
But even if our genes are bad, we land in a bad place, we were bad in our past lives or the Gods have dealt us a bad hand, even if we are rich yet miserable, we still have a possibility for happiness… as it is human connection, that makes us happy.
The Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest-running study on happiness, states humans are an intensely social species. It's literally a matter of life and death.
In our ancestral past, if we were pushed out by the tribe, we died. So, we are designed to have social connections to survive but modern life is getting in the way of our genes.
Ironically, we literally carry more knowledge than ever in human history yet we are more miserable than ever. Through technology, we are spending more time alone than ever before and it's making us unhappy, very unhappy.
It's estimated that humans in hunter-gather societies spent the majority of their time together: working, eating, playing, prating, hunting and gathering … humans lived and died... together. In contrast, nearly a third of people in “developed Western countries” live alone, literally alone for about 8-10 hours of the day, every day. For people who live with others, it's about 5-7 hours every day. As people get older, they spend nearly half their waking time alone. This is making us all sadder than at any time in human history as we lose the patience, compassion, kindness and skills needed to cooperate and be happy.
Humans can survive only by connecting with each other. We need to build technology, societies and cultures that preserve our genetic urge to connect and belong. Otherwise, our “advanced” society will stay a sad, lonely place to dwell.
#beinghuman #happiness #technology