Contentment most probably consists of the satisfaction of physiological and a modest amount of psychological needs. It began to appear to me that happiness is not a static state; that it had to do with struggling, learning, developing and achieving; that it was necessary to have a goal that was neither too easy nor too difficult to attain; and that when this goal was reached, another one had to be sought.
I tried to find a unit of happiness and decided it had six faces. Each night I asked myself:
(1) Experienced any Joy?
(2) Had any Insights?
(3) Learned anything new?
(4) Made any Improvements in my personality or actions?
(5) Spotted in myself any Anti type thinking such as 'I couldn't do that, it's much too hard' - and managed to reformulate it positively - for example 'I know it's very hard but I'll have a good go at it'?
(6) Overcome any Difficulties?
These letters (in bold type) formed a word JILIAD, so that is what I decided to call my unit. For each 'face', if I had experienced it that day, I awarded myself one sixth of a unit.
Why not, each night, see what your score is? Or you may have an entirely different approach. Please let me know.
Margaret Chisman, The Bungalow, near the Station, Tring, Herts, HP23 5QX (tel 044282 3281).