Purely for professional reasons, my colleagues and I were pondering the concept of “happiness” yesterday.
It’s a word we throw around a lot without really knowing what we mean.
I have an ex-girlfriend in Belarus and, for the first few months of our relationship, I would often ask her: “Are you happy?”
Despite having perfect English. she was bewildered by the question and, indeed, the notion of happiness. “What do you mean by ‘happy’?” she would ask. And, of course, I couldn’t really say. Life can be challenging in the former Soviet republic, but the people are wonderfully stoic.
It’s now a joke between us. When we chat online, I will type: “Are you happy?”, and she will respond: “Of course not.”
That makes me smile, which, I suppose, is one manifestation of happiness.
