Happiness Is… Being Almost Good Enough

The newest issue of Wired (not on the site yet, so I can’t link to it) has an essay called “Down with Happiness” which criticizes the possibility of technologically or pharmaceutically eliminating unhappiness.  As self-evident as the horror of a soma-fied society ought to be (but probably isn’t); it’s a good piece.  What especially caught my attention was this quote:  “In describing optimal experience – the subjective state of happiness he calls flow – the psychiatrist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says it comes down to engaging in activities just beyond our skill level.”  That’s my life.  I’m always in the midst of something just beyond my skill level.  And I’ve got to say, when it’s not causing me shuddering anxiety, it makes me happy.  The sort of happy that hasn’t got a lot to do with content.  Happily. 

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