Wise Choices

Reading the article What Makes Us Happy.


Fascinating very long study that follows a group of men throughout their lives from the time they are college sophmores to beyond retirement.



"His central question is not how much or how little trouble these men met, but rather precisely how—and to what effect—they responded to that trouble. "



“Much of what is labeled mental illness,” Vaillant writes, “simply reflects our ‘unwise’ deployment of defense mechanisms. If we use defenses well, we are deemed mentally healthy, conscientious, funny, creative, and altruistic. If we use them badly, the psychiatrist diagnoses us ill, our neighbors label us unpleasant, and society brands us immoral.”



Yes. This reminds me of what Professor Dumbledore says to Harry Potter. "It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."



Also reminds me that as tweenagers, my best pal and I already figured out that its not what happens to you in life or what you have but how you react to what happens and how you use what you have. The hard part is that skill of logic and reasoning to figure out what to do. Maybe part of that is also accepting what choices you can not make for yourself so you can move forward in life without constantly what-iffing.


Then again, I also realize, in myself even now, that I have always had a paralyzing inability to see any choice in my life. Even now, where I live and who I live with does not seem like an actual choice I have but a circumstance I must deal with.

I'm just noodling this through tonight.