HUNGRY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year! And I mean that. Then again what exactly does that mean? I mean "happy." What does happy really mean?

Now while the jury may still be out on the definitive interpretation of happiness, I'm guessin that you have a pretty good idea of what makes you happy. And so too apparently does University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman. In his book, Authentic Happiness, he notes that in our ongoing quest for happiness most of us will no doubt find ourselves spending the better part of our lives pursuing pleasure. Yet he also points out that of the three "examined" components of happiness; pleasure, engagement, and meaning, it is pleasure that is the least consequential to a satisfying life, and that engagement and meaning are far more important.

Now as much as I enjoy the simpler pleasures I'm gonna have to agree with my man Marty on this one. Because when it gets down to a deeper level of happiness, the kind that tugs at the old heartstrings, those simple pleasures simply can't hold a candle to the sort of personal satisfaction that comes from being fully engaged in something truly meaningful, nor should we honestly ever expect em to.

When I started drummin again in '02 I wasn't unhappy, in fact, overall things were pretty good. Still I knew somethin was missin. At the time, I felt my life could largely be broken down (as well as summed up) into twenty-four hour time slots that aside from being chronologically connected were for the most part detached and independent of one another. Once I made the commitment to drummin, however, each day became intimately intertwined, there was a flow, a reassuring rhythm if you will. Suddenly, instead of frayed and fragmented, my life felt much more cohesive and coherent. Everyday was now more than just another day, it was another golden opportunity to build and improve on what I did the day before. Subsequently, I feel my life's become a steady and continuing work in progress, one with a newfound sense of meaning and purpose. And yea, this has all no doubt made me very happy, but better yet, it's made me hungry for more.

Speakin of that, tonight's opening night of the 2011 Supercross season and you can bet there's gonna be a horde of hungry riders out there ready to bang bars for that top spot on the podium. Motocross by the way is my all-time favorite sport, and after a relatively long off-season I'm probably as excited as anyone to see that gate drop. Throw in a pizza and a couple of beers and heck, I couldn't be happier...if ya know what I mean. See ya next time. Till then, keeep it up.