Arthur Brooks: "You are the generation that can change the world through complete happiness".
The Harvard professor, PhD in Social Sciences, participated in a meeting with about 500 students from the University.
FotoManuelCastells/Professor Arthur Brooks gave the inaugural lecture of the congress Forun, which was attended by some 500 students and professionals.
20 | 09 | 2022
"You are the generation that can change the world through complete happiness". This was stated at the University of Navarra by Arthur Brooks, professor at Harvard Business School, at the inaugural lecture of the "congress Forun" organized by students of the academic center. The session was attended by some 500 students and professionals.
During the lecture, entitled "Leadership and Happiness," Brooks spoke about the keys to achieving happiness staff in ordinary life. The professor stressed that happiness is the combination of three things: enjoyment, satisfaction and meaning. Happy people are those who "enjoy life, are satisfied with their achievements and understand the meaning of their lives." To achieve these three goals, he said, one must work on and take care of the four pillars of life: spirituality, family, friends and work.
Arthur Brooks stated that it is necessary to have a Philosophy of life or spirituality that detaches people from the purely material and allows them to dedicate time to metaphysical matters. "Faith is what gives us a purpose in life," he said. Speaking of family, he made it clear that there is nothing that is so important that it gets in the way of a relationship with a family member. "You have to put aside pride and differences because if not, you are giving up a lot of things," he said.
Happiness and suffering
Regarding friends, speaker differentiated between the friends of work and "real friends". With the development of the professional degree program , he explained, friends are "those who are useful in the different aspects of life". While real friends "are not useful, but they are the most valuable." That is why, according to Brooks, it is important to distinguish between them in order to maintain not only work friendships, but also free friendships. Finally, the professor emphasized that jobs have two characteristics: the creation of value and service to the community, leaving aside self-interest.
Finally, speaker addressed the topic of suffering in relation to the confusion that people have about happiness and pure enjoyment. Brooks wanted to clarify that in order to achieve happiness it is not necessary to try to avoid suffering, but it is also necessary that people learn to deal with it: "One finds his purpose only when he suffers".
