I have a college professor friend and today he conjectured as to the reasons why choosing a life with less impact contributed to my family’s happiness during the No Impact year.
He said that important contributors to happiness are:
- Meaning: I got a lot of satisfaction out of living a life that seemed connected to something larger and more important than myself.
- Autonomy: By deliberately designing my own No Impact life, I got to make a lot of choices for myself, rather than feeling that my way of life was foisted upon me by my upbringing and culture.
- Connectedness: Because we unplugged from the electronic matrix–TV, computers–we plugged into what was happening in our neighborhood and with our friends. Our relationship strengthened.
Cool, right? And what it all adds up to is what I always say: a happier planet makes for a happier people.
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