In my daily work I do not only help elite athletes, but high-performers in all fields of life, celebrities, artists, actors, CEO’s, etc.
Sometimes we talk about life in general. Now here in Holland the trend is to focus on happiness. Happiness workshops, courses, books, apps, even happiness coaches have become very popular.
But I see some strange paradoxes here.
Peculiar, that we would need that, since Holland is, based on the statistics of the World Happiness Report with the top 7 countries in the world.(1) The Dutch are amongst the happiest people in the world! So why are these interventions necessary?
But I’ll tell you the truth, those statistics are not related to the reality of life.
In Holland we have 17 million inhabitants, and: (official numbers):
-1.4 million heavy drinkers (of alcohol)
-1.0 million people use cannabis
-1.2 million people use sleeping pills and of those 700.00 are addicted to these
-1.0 million people use anti-depressants
-1.0 million people use cocaine, amphetamines, GHB, XTC or heroin.
Then, add the people that eat to get rid of their mental discomfort (emotional eating) and the people who run, bike, or fitness compulsively, in order to feel better. For them a day without exercise is a bad day. So another 1-2 million people that just found a way to cope with their feeling is discomfort!
Real happy people don’t need to change their biochemistry by chemistry or other inventions!
The “happiness-industry” is working overtime, reading a book or going to a happiness-workshop or teaching other people how to become happy??
Come folks, get a life, a happy life for that one.
1- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report
For further reading:
Smile or die – How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World –
Barbara Ehrenreich
The Happiness Myth – Why What We Think is Right is Wrong – Jennifer
Michael Hecht
The Happiness Industry – How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-
being – William Davies
Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has
Undermined America – Barbara Ehrenreich
