What we watch and listen to has an impact on our decisions. This is why US companies will spend close to 160 billion dollars on advertising this year alone. According to Businessinsider.com, 10 companies alone spent more than one billion dollars on advertising in 2018. I have read studies that show how people who say that they are not affected by advertising are the people who are most impacted by it! Among cognitive scientists and business leaders, there seems to be agreement: what we see and hear impacts how we think and what decisions we make.
I recognize that I am not an exception. That is why I try to pay attention to what I am watching and try to evaluate how it is impacting me. Last
week I watched Shortcut to Happiness starring Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. This move is about Jabez Stone (Alec Baldwin), an unpublished writer who is frustrated because of his lack of success. He meets the devil (Jennifer Love Hewit), who promises him success if, after ten years, he will give her his soul. He takes the deal and begins to enjoy great wealth, popularity, and success. But after nine years into the deal Jabez realizes that he has lost all of his friendships. He also realizes that his friendships are a lot more important to him than the success he was given and he wants out of the deal.
REDEFINING SUCCESS
Shortcut To Happiness reminds me that the most important things in life are not fame and riches, but the relationships and friendships we make along the way. The movie also reinforces what psychology teaches: when we imagine the future, we are unable to see the downsides, which are always present in the future we imagine.
This is an old theme in literature. In 1856 French writer Gustave Flaubert published Madame Bovary. Emma Bovary (the protagonist) is married to a small-time doctor and lives in a small French village. She reads romance novels and becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her small life. She imagines a life of luxury and drama. This leads her into affairs and a large debt she cannot pay. Her life ends in a tragic suicide. Although the details are different, Emma Bovary suffers from the same affliction as Jabez Stone. They both have a highly romanticized view of wealth and success and miss the success that they already have.
Shortcut to Happiness was a great movie for my soul. Most of the time I love my life. But more often than I want to admit, I wish more Airmen came to our Happiness conversations. I catch myself wishing more people would read my blog. Sometimes I find myself dreaming of my life in the 90s when I had some local fame. It is easy for me to remember the thrill of speaking to a large crowd of college students and, if I listen carefully, I can still hear their applause. It is easy for me to long for “the good old days.” Shortcut to Happiness and Madame Bovary both reminded me that I have a great life right where I am, and that I must work with what I have, and not dream of imagined success.
I pray that you will pay attention to the movies you watch. I pray that you will enjoy living at a time when it is easier than ever before to be entertained by movies. However, I also pray that you will use what you see to develop your soul.
