With all the books on mood-boosting technology that does everything for us but laugh, we would expect happiness to show up at our doorstep like a pizza. But it doesn’t quite work that way. Maybe when we’re young, other people orchestrate our enjoyment of life. If we're lucky, our parents go out of their way to keep us entertained, and in college our friends make sure we’re OK. But after that, most of us are left to fend for ourselves. And obviously, we're failing because about half of us are depressed.

What this event will NOT be is a step-by-step happiness guide. How draining would that be? What we'll talk about is why we seem to have given up on happiness altogether. After two years in a pandemic, the coronavirus is no longer “novel” but often feels ancient and eternal. A difficult thought is planted in our heads, "What if the pandemic never ends?" We're no longer talking about what we’ll do “after coronavirus.”

Everyone seems confused and burned out. And it is not that there are too many problems. It' that there is no goal to strive for. Without goals, there are no aspirations, and without aspirations, there is seemingly nothing to live for. Maybe it's time to redefine what happiness is and how to reach it.

We'll talk about that on Thursday! Everyone is welcome. If nothing else, this is a chance to be happy for at least an hour.