Happiness is more than simply positive mood or fleeting emotions. Happiness is a state of well-being that encompasses living a good life, one with a sense of meaning and deep contentment.
Education and Happiness
The reason parents stress good education is because there is a vague popular belief that education will necessarily bring about happiness. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent parents and children suffer in angst over unfinished homework assignments, low grades, looming test scores, and pending admissions decisions from prestigious programs, it appears improbable that their impression of happiness is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal.
Let no family choosing to provide good education for their children for a moment yield to the popular belief that access to good schools and good teachers alone will guarantee happiness and success. Like a souped up exotic car with a crappy engine and broken navigation system, children whose entire educational values are narrowly focused on only achieving high GPA and test scores remain aimless and broken not in high school, but throughout college and beyond.
Contrary to popular belief, Harvard doesn’t guarantee “happiness” and Stanford doesn’t ensure “success”. The uncomfortable and scary truth as to why the most popular class at Harvard and Yale is about Happiness and the most popular class at Stanford is about Finding Purpose is some of our best and brightest youth are depressed, lost, insecure, uncertain and unhappy in life.
The SMART happiness
The SMART Lounge is established based on years of research and deep-seated conviction that families can “have their cake and eat it too” — children can both be wildly successful and passionately happy in high school, college and life beyond. It’s not that hard or mysterious. The secret sauce is in knowing your identity (plus superpowers), finding your purpose (early on) and loving your family (which includes friends and community). The SMART Lounge enables all this in a warm yet effective and exploratory yet efficient co-learning environment.
If your child is fortunate enough to receive an invitation to the SMART Lounge, the privilege extends to your entire family. The SMART Lounge exists to provide its members an ideal co-learning environment for interaction, inspiration. We’re here to play host to bright minds with big ideas, provide an atmosphere that’s simultaneously stimulating and relaxing, and offer events, experiences and culture worthy of discussion.
It’s no wonder why families are calling the SMART Lounge the “Happiest space on earth!”