It’s intuitively inappropriate to talk about happiness when the subject is depression. But it is even more inappropriate to talk about abnormality, inadequacy or maladjustment in the same context.
It is inappropriate not to speak respectfully, confidently, supportively and, above all, hopefully, even about happiness. As long as love is real, happiness cannot be illusory.
Moreover, when the tone of the discussion escapes the moralising register and the words do not seek the Solution, but patiently weave ropes, open windows, and give the mind and soul reasons to explore with hope, then we realise that happiness has always been thought of and discussed in tandem with unhappiness.
Neurologically, happiness is an emotion like any other—no more difficult to induce chemically, no more unstable, no more demanding. The difference between transient happiness and quasi-permanent unhappiness is seldom objective or clinical and is often down to us, our upbringing, our perspectives and perceptions, or our ability to respond.
It is inappropriate not to speak respectfully, confidently, supportively and, above all, hopefully, even about happiness. As long as love is real, happiness cannot be illusory.
Understanding this does not make us guilty, but rather prepares us to understand why we can release guilt: because it is not about how “wrong” we are, but about discovering those precursors of unhappiness, individual or societal cognitive distortions, which, once identified, we can eliminate.
Norel Iacob is editor-in-chief of Signs of the Times Romania and ST Network.
