The news brings us a daily diet of people’s lives lost or wrecked by events beyond their control, tempered with accounts of the apparently glamorous life-styles of the rich and famous, and interspersed with advertisements that lure us towards the pursuit of success and happiness.  However, the advertisements are selling products that make others rich and, on their own, are unlikely to make us happy.  Instead, we need to learn ‘to love the daily current of existence which flows on evenly’, to quote Natalia Ginzburg.  Or as Pope Francis, has said about achieving happiness: ‘Slow down. Take time off. Live and let live. Don’t proselytise. Work for peace. Work at a job that offers basic human dignity. Don’t hold on to negative feelings. Move calmly through life. Enjoy art, books and playfulness.’

Sources:

Natalia Ginzburg, Little Virtues, London: Daunt Books, 2015.

Egan T, The pope and the art of joy. International New York Times, 16-17^th May, 2015.