"The Georaphy of Bliss"

It is currently noon and I just woke up about an hour ago. Yesterday I started a new book called "The Geography of Bliss," written by a journalist who had decided to embark on a world-wide journey to discover what the key to happiness was. I am over half-way done with this book now, and I am realizing a lot of things. Climate is not a determining factor in whether or not a nation can be happy. National identity is. Wealth is not. Having enough to eat is. Failure is important. Success is not always.
He says that Iceland is actually the happinest nation in the world, according to a bunch of paramenters that he has used, as well as other scientists, yes scientists, who have recently begun studying happiness rather than depression. In Iceland, it is dark all of winter and sunny all of summer. They are a nation that drink heavily. They also have a lot of inflation, but very minimal unemployment. This is because inflation doesn't bother them since everyone suffers, whereas unemployment is selective. The cool thing about Iceland is that failure and naivety are positive things. It is ok to fail at one thing and then try another. In the states, failure is seen so terribly. If I go to law school and don't become a lawyer, I don't have a wonderful social system to fall back on to get myself back on my feet. I'll be in massive debt and with no job or other skills to get me another job. Not so in Iceland.
His book also points out that bouts of sadness are important to happiness. You can't have what you want all the time and be happy. Neither can you never have what you want and be happy. But a certain amount of discontent is important. Being cold once in awhile is important to appreciate warmth. That is why we, at least my family, so enjoys lighting a fire during a cold winter. That's why we all like to stay in bed when it's cold outside.
Right now I'm sitting outside on my balcony, wearing a t-shirt and flipflops and it is perfectly comfortable outside. It is Argentina's dead of winter, and I am wearing a t-shirt. It isn't like this every day, in fact, it has reached freezing once. I appreciate this day so much more, though, because of that. That's why Pittsburfghers break out their skirts and shorts as soon as the weather so much as raises a few degrees.
I have mentioned before how racist this country can be, and I have been experiencing it much more lately (not sure why). But it makes me appreciate my own country more because even though we are certainly a racist nation at times, we are much less so than here. The author of the book I am reading mentions that some people get up and move to other countries because they feel they belong better in that country. They pick up the national styles, the language, the humor, and the food. I don't know that Argentina is the country for me, but being here has certainly raised my level of happiness and awareness of my happiness. Being here, I have reached incredible lows...downright depression. But also I have been incredibly happy.
Anyway, I suppose I wanted to write this entry just to point out that eventually I will find true bliss, wherever it may turn up. And I want to keep my options open, like the backpackers I have met along my trip. I am prepared for failure, but this does not discourage me one bit.

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