What makes a person truly happy?
Happiness. Is it as elusive as it seems? How do we know when we are truly happy?
February 11, 2012 is World Happiness Day. All over the world, thousands of people will be viewing and talking about an innovative film, Happy, that looks at what makes people truly happy. From the slums of Mumbai to the bayou in Louisiana to ocean beaches, mountain retreats to a hospice, on urban streets and country roads, the film makers try to suss out what the central core elements are that combine to give a person a feeling of happiness whether a person is living at subsistence or Wall Street levels.
What makes a person “happy?” The film makers conclude two qualities are present: connection and community. This is as true for the Dalai Lama as it is for the hospice worker — both of whom are interviewed in the film.
In this film you will see many different people and many different communities including a cohousing community. Connection and community are two qualities that cohousers have known from the beginning that make living in these kinds of neighborhoods desirable. Connection and community are basic to cohousing. These are THE reasons that cohousing exists in the world.
No one comes to cohousing because they want a “house.” You can get that faster, cheaper and with far, far, far fewer meetings. But if you seek to know your neighbors, for them to know you, a sense of belonging and a sense of place then the cohousing process, while harder, is so much richer. And far more sustainable over time.
Three Groves Ecovillage
Three Groves EcoVillage in Pennsylvania will be showing the Happy movie on World Happiness Day.
