Minimum Viable Happiness
Happiness is not something I often write about. It can be a wooly concept to write about, because it’s something that is unique to each of us. It’s also something that some of us don’t believe in, and even something that a small amount of us seem to have in spades. In other words, like so many other things, happiness is a spectrum.
I hear word substitutions being used - contentment, for example. That suggests a feeling of equanimity with the world, a feeling of “Im good here and now, I don’t feel I have to struggle for more. I’m balanced and calm.”
Fulfilled is yet another. To me that looks like a feeling of being “topped up” on life. You have all your ducks in a row and you are feeling good physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally.
There are myriad ways to talk about this feeling, and when I see it being discussed, I often hear of it being an endpoint, some distant mountaintop that you reach after some amount of work, dedication, practice, or sacrifice. Maybe it’s a goal reached, a certain amount of money earned, or an accolade won. These things are all worthy in their own right, but in their absence, what keeps us going, what keeps us buoyed up and energised to do the work we do? We must be starting from somewhere, a foundation where we can proceed from.
I believe that each of us has a “Minimum Viable Happiness”. This is the feeling we get when we are on an even keel, challenged but not stressed, engaged but not burned out. It’s a place of being ready and willing to go further. Its the place where you are able to say to yourself “if nothing else happens, I’m ok with this right now”. Maybe that has a monetary value (e.g. A basic income that will keep a roof over your head and food on the table), or maybe it’s an activity you do often that fills you up with a sense of togetherness (e.g. a group sport). Maybe it’s daily prayer or other routine, or maybe it’s completing that daily commitment you made to yourself.
Recognising and understanding your MVH is important as it means you can see a baseline. It means that as long as you know you have this place to stand from, you can leap.
So what’s your MVH, and how can you invest in that today?
