0:00

Hi, everybody. This

0:07

short segment is what we call for the good

0:09

of the order. It's something we used to do

0:11

at the end of my sorority meetings, if you

0:13

can believe that, where someone

0:15

would share something that they came across in

0:17

the course of the week, a poem, a

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song lyric, a short story that

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they found enormously helpful as they

0:24

went about daily life. I

0:27

wanted to pick up the thread because I am

0:29

so often wowed by something I see in the

0:31

world that I want to bring back and hand

0:33

off to you. So every

0:35

Friday, we produce a short segment

0:37

called for the good of the order. Think of

0:40

it like an audio greeting card, a

0:42

thing to share with the people that you love

0:44

around the country who you don't get to see

0:46

or talk to enough, a thing

0:48

to discuss with the people you do see

0:50

and talk to on a more regular basis.

0:53

This is Kelly Corrigan-Wonders for

0:55

the good of the order. This

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episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

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in price and coverage match limited by

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state law. This

1:49

week's go-to is based on some notes

1:51

I took during a happiness panel at

1:53

the Aspen Ideas Festival. So

1:56

first there was this basic definition

1:58

of happiness which... One person

2:00

defined as all of your parts are aligned,

2:02

you're in that great flow state where

2:05

you have a sense of internal harmony.

2:07

Another person defined it as

2:09

a lack of perseverating, which

2:11

I related to. And

2:14

another person pointed out that although American life

2:16

is driven by a tyranny of achievement, happiness

2:19

rests on accomplishment, which

2:21

could be as small as a piece

2:23

of origami well folded or

2:26

learning a basic Tom Petty song on

2:28

the guitar. And then this

2:31

esteemed panel, including Adam

2:33

Gopnik, Tamara Gendler,

2:35

David Brooks, Sarah

2:38

Lewis, talked about how

2:40

they themselves achieve happiness. And

2:43

there were nods given to Tai

2:45

Chi and running and painting and

2:47

reading and the making of art

2:49

of all kinds. Someone

2:52

else mentioned that Jefferson and

2:54

Franklin had made a big point about

2:56

lists as a tool for happiness,

2:58

which is to say dumping all

3:00

of your thoughts onto a piece of paper

3:03

so that you can get a decent night's

3:05

sleep and wake up with a working plan

3:07

for the day. And then David Brooks said

3:09

this very funny thing, David, who has been

3:12

on this podcast before, and we'll put the

3:14

link to that episode in the show notes

3:17

because it was a great conversation. But

3:19

he said, I want to bring this down to

3:21

earth and I want to talk about fandom as

3:24

a way of achieving happiness or

3:26

a way of triggering joy. And

3:30

he described the New York Mets winning the

3:32

World Series when he was a kid. And

3:34

he described his wife coming down through a

3:36

pasture and the light hitting

3:38

her a certain way. And then that feeling

3:40

of being a fan of some

3:42

team or some person was such

3:45

a thrill. And I feel

3:47

that. And what I think it

3:49

is is wonder. Because

3:51

I think you're looking at something, some collection

3:53

of people, like we're all gonna watch the

3:55

Olympics this summer and we're gonna

3:57

see these great moments where. some

4:00

group of people manages to

4:02

pull off something that seems

4:04

totally inconceivable. And we're all

4:06

tuning in, hoping for

4:08

that like whiff of joy

4:10

and elation that

4:13

is ours just for the asking.

4:16

And I was so grateful and so

4:18

was the audience that David had taken

4:20

a minute to say, yes, of course

4:23

reading great literature might be a source of

4:25

happiness. And of course, baking

4:27

the perfect loaf of sourdough bread might

4:30

also bring happiness. But

4:33

there is this more passive way to

4:35

access it, which is to just expose

4:37

yourself to something amazing that someone else

4:40

is doing, that you yourself don't have

4:42

to do the amazing thing. You

4:44

don't have to have that sense of accomplishment.

4:46

You can just take joy in another person's

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accomplishment. And I felt

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my shoulders kind of drop in that moment.

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Like maybe I could find happiness every day just

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by looking for the amazing shit that

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other people are doing. So

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my note for this week is to

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find something to cheer for and

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to let that make you happy. It's

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simple and it's small, but I think it will be

5:09

effective. We'll

5:11

be back on Sunday with another thanks for

5:13

being here. And again, on Tuesday for another

5:15

Kelly Corrigan wonders. In the meantime, if you

5:18

wanna find us or talk to us or

5:20

suggest something to us, you can always email

5:22

helloatkellycorrigan.com. We'll see you

5:25

next week. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

5:32

From PRX.