I was really inspired today by an interview with Daniel Karslake, whom I quote below. Karslake made a documentary about five people who have made a difference in combatting poverty. The film, Every Three Seconds will be released on October 16, World Food Day. The interview with Karslake was posted in the online course I am taking, The Science of Happiness (from UCal Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center via EdX).
Beyond explaining why people in these poor countries are happy, the explanation also points to a shift in focus that could change the lives of Westerners who will never know the levels of poverty that claims 210,000 lives every week through malnutrition, starvation, and lack of medical care.
I'm not talking about the benefits that come from helping alleviate poverty, like the five people featured in the film did. Scientific studies do show that such altruism and charitable work bring significant benefits to your health and well-being.
No, I'm just thinking here about taking a lead from Karslake's personal discovery. If I could focus on what I have, rather than what I don't have, might that make me a happier person? I love the idea that after the folks in Malawi finally had food and shelter and housing, they "do whatever gives them joy."
So, for example, I look at my day today. So much I didn't get done... but there are still a few hours left, the sun is gloriously gold, I have food and shelter... and so much more. In fact, my life is stuffed with blessings. It is enough to be happy about; enough to be grateful for. Or maybe just... it is enough, full stop.
Daniel Karslake: "I was deeply changed by my first trip to Malawi. Malawi is an extremely poor country, and I went to the poorest parts of Malawi.... The experience I had there really stunned me. Before I went, I was nervous, because I thought, “I am way too empathetic, and this is going to devastate me. I’m going to come home and just have a depressed life.
"And I had the exact opposite response. I came home completely euphoric, because I realized that people who live day-to-day getting enough food and water for their family will reach a point where, after they’ve secured what they need, they’ll stop striving. And then they’ll sing and dance or they’ll worship or do whatever gives them joy. They have this experience of life that is completely different than mine, because they pay attention to what they have… not what they don’t have.
"Before I went to Malawi, I’d been totally conditioned to pay attention to only what I didn’t have. I had a car, but I wanted that car; I had 15 shirts, but I wanted that one. I’d been completely conditioned, and therefore I was hungry in a completely different way. In resource-poor countries people don’t have enough food or medical care; in the West, people are always striving for bigger, better, faster, more—there’s no definition of enough. It’s two kinds of hunger.
"I’m really jealous of the people I met in Malawi. There was a contentment, a centeredness I’d never seen before in a human being. I’m not a particularly religious person; but when I was in Malawi, I remember having this lightening bolt moment when I thought, “This is what Jesus meant when he said the poor shall inherit the earth.”
It shifted me in a big way, and I’m really grateful for that.
