Satisfaction Seminar

Satisfaction Seminar

Professor Hannah Riley scanned the crowd as they milled into the auditorium, after a decade of teaching at the university she could spot a first-year pack in seconds. It was October so she knew that they’d been on campus for over a month but the evidence was still in their lost expressions, the backpacks full of paper, extra pens, and textbooks. She knew from teaching at all levels that by the time they hit the third year their whole outlook would change. They’d saunter in with just a notebook or would record the lecture on their cell phone. Their expressions would have hardened just a bit, they’d choose a class later in the day as well, none of this eight-thirty in the morning nonsense.

As the majority of the class had found seats and unloaded their gear on the table in front of them she turned to the board behind her and wrote in a neat script, her name, and the title of the class, The Sociology of Happiness. It was a ludicrous term in her opinion, how could anyone believe that attaining personal satisfaction could be taught in a classroom? She shook her cap of blonde hair and gave the attendees her full smile.

“Good morning all, thanks for getting me out of bed just before the coffee shop opened.” She heard the strained laughter as she sipped from her flask of dark roast. She noted several others had the mermaid logo on their cups as well, she should have bought stocks in the company way back she rued.

“I have some difficult truths to share this semester but I hope you’ll stick with me. The first truth that frankly belies the title of the course is that you’ll never be content.” Her wide grey eyes took in the shocked and alarmed faces, so she repeated it for effect. Her lips curled up at the ends as she watched a handful of brunettes in the fifth-row scribble down what she’d just said. It happened a lot in the first years. She knew from her own experience that some decades down the road they’d have binders full of information, only a small percentage of which they’d use in real life.

 The reason she’d agreed to lecture on this material in the first place, was that she knew personal happiness was something you had to figure out on your own. As she paced the front of the room she launched into what the definition of contentment was.

“Some definitions have contentment as being in a state of peaceful happiness, being satisfied and happy, or even as showing satisfaction with things as they are. As a group with an average age of twenty can anyone here actually claim any of the above?” Scanning the faces and seeing only one hand up out of twenty-five students she nodded perceptively. Her curiosity was aroused though so she pointed to the brave and possibly deluded man in the back row.

“Hello sir, do you feel comfortable sharing your contentment theory with us?”

He stood up, slowly and just a bit reluctantly. He was tall so she could see from her post thirty feet away that he was clad in faded jeans and an Aerosmith concert t-shirt under a blue chequed shirt. His hair was a tousled blend of brown and grey, so she suspected he had almost twenty years on her undergraduates. He smiled shyly at those around him who had broken into smattered and amused applause.

Before he spoke he coughed into his fist, then pulled down his shirt and stood up straighter.

“My name is Niall and I elected this course because I wanted to see how someone would lecture on personal happiness when it’s, well let’s face it, personal. I see kind of where you’re going with the material and I hope for everyone else’s sake that they can attain their level before Christmas. I don’t see it happening though”.

“Oh, why not?”

“It’s not something you can just learn in three and a half months, is it? Especially at eighteen. I mean it’s not like learning facts and dates in history, or how to designate a blood type in biology. Learning to be fully content changes from one person to the next depending on their life experience, background, and interactions with others.

“Can you give the class an example of who might achieve contentment before their peers?” She asked enjoying the exchange and feeling that her students might understand the struggle for it from someone else. His slightly accented Irish accent seemed to lend grace to the discussion.

He leaned back against the railing behind him to get more comfortable. It appeared that he was emotionally invested in the conversation. He looked around at all the faces turned in his direction and smiled a bit. She could see from her position at the podium that he saw a memory of himself in that sea of youth. He took another deep breath and looked up at the ceiling of the auditorium as if to see the answers among the cedar beams.

“All I can tell you is that it’s different for everyone, some people aren’t happy until they have massive wealth. A huge McMansion on the ocean, personal trainer, and shopper, you know the Kardashian type of life. I’m not here to judge, if you are seriously happy and at peace with that life then you’ll have contentment. I have a friend who believes that it means to be neither happy nor sad, that if he has no great concerns and is in a great headspace for being able to sleep well and resting that’s all he needs. So how can two such diverse opinions be in the same dictionary definition?” He paused and scanned the room as he asked what some students assumed was a rhetorical question.

“There are plenty of quotes available too if you want to research them in your quest. However, if you don’t know what you’re looking for a Google quote is just something to put up on your Facebook page. I have a couple to throw in, ready?” He smiled as a sea of pens stood upright waiting for him to start. His eyes found Professor Riley’s face looking bemused. He’d inadvertently taken over her lecture. He shrugged at her with a rueful smile.

“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. That was Socrates. Not exactly an up-to-date reference though. How about this one?

“Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough. Any guesses on that one? No? She had an award-winning show, has her own magazine, and” He was interrupted by a curly-haired blonde lass in the second row.

“Is it Oprah?” He simply nodded.

“Ironic isn’t it? This is a woman whose net worth as of last month was two point five billion dollars. Now that’s someone who can be classified as rich. She was born poor though so she’s seen both sides of the coin, excuse the expression. Anyway, I’m off track here. How do we know for sure that either Oprah is, or Socrates was content in all areas of their life? Oprah was the spokeswoman for Weight Watchers remember, so was she fully content with the way her life was going? Socrates was killed by poison hemlock because a bunch of political Greeks turned against him, a bit over the top eh?” He smirked at the group. Anyway, back to the question Professor Riley asked me. Who might achieve contentment before their peers? I don’t know. Disappointing yeah? All I know is, I need a combination of the following five traits. They’re seldom going to be all on the same level at the same time.”

He touched the tip of his index finger as a visual aid and carried on.

“The first is enthusiasm, which means sociable, friendly, fun-loving, not just being enthusiastic but hanging with same. The second is all about being industrious in life. A level of contentment can come from being achievement-oriented, efficient, purposeful, and especially capable. You probably know for yourself, that when you’ve done something right, it feels great”.

“Can anyone tell me how having the third trait of compassion might produce contentment?”  Looking around the classroom he noted a red-haired woman with her arm halfway up, unsure but willing. He nodded at her and she stood.

“I’m thinking that if you see someone who’s struggling and you help them, especially without being asked it makes you feel good about yourself, fulfilled if that’s the word?”

“Yep, that’s pretty much what I was going to say, I’ll just add here that it also includes the opportunity for personal growth, and if needed, a level of self-acceptance, after all, if you get to the point of accepting who you are, all parts of you then you’re ahead of the game already. The fourth trait helpful in achieving contentment is intellectual curiosity. The fact that you’re all here on campus today, this term is that you want to learn. I know that Uni is a combination of what you pick up in lectures and what you try to avoid picking up in the SUB.” The class broke out in a cacophony of giggles and deep chuckles. He smiled at his joke while at the same time holding his hand up for silence.

“Okay, I have just one more then I might just let our prof take the class back.” He shot a look at Hannah and at her gesture of acquiescence he continued.

“Low withdrawal is just a term for staying invested in your life, staying present, and as often as you can maintain the positive emotions that come up and find healthy ways to deal with the negative. Well, that’s all five of them. I can’t offer guarantees that you’ll get to my age or your granddad’s with serenity because let’s face it our backgrounds and families, hell even our place in the clan can all affect how we go through life. Your level of contentment will be different from a child born in a poverty-stricken country. She has only one toy but because she’s never seen an Amazon site she has no idea why she should want more, she’s content with what she has.” He took a deep breath then pivoted to the front. “Professor Riley, did that answer your question?”

He sat down to applause and a whistle. Hannah was just about to open her mouth when the bell sounded. She tossed up her hands in mock dismay and smiled. Over the sound of students packing away their belongings she spoke. “See you next Tuesday. Thanks to Niall for the insights”

She glanced up to see his seat empty and realized that someone like him, someone so at peace and content wouldn’t have needed public acknowledgments. She turned to wipe her name off the board, picked up her briefcase, and swung through the door. The evening ahead would be spent examining her individual definitions of contentment again.