Namely Words: Eudaemonic

I read about the word “eudaemonic” today in Victoria Moran’s book Living a Charmed Life. Chapter 40 is called “Consider Yourself Lucky.” If I could summarize Victoria’s recommendations it’s that if you look for the luck in your life, you pave the way for luck to find you. She suggests that one way of doing this is to make a daily habit of counting the number of happy-making moments that occurred in the last 24 hours.

If you don’t believe there is a word for everything, you might now. Eudaemonic is an adjective that means being conducive to happiness. I don’t know about you, but I want that word used to describe me! I know I’m not always successful at it, but I’m working on it.

A group of physics students from the University of California, Santa Cruz called themselves Eudaemons, but their version of happy making came with a twist. Thomas A. Bass wrote a book called The Eudaemonic Pie describing how the Eudaemons developed a clever way to increase their odds of winning at casino roulette tables by nearly 50%.

That sounds a little too risky for my taste, but there are better (and less illegal) ways you can become a Eudaemonist. Aristotle first inspired the idea of a Eudaemonist group and suggested they are “individuals who strive to excel at their talents, who seek happiness through rational pursuits, and who value the ability for all intelligent beings to share in their pursuit of happiness.”

Victoria Moran says you can achieve this lucky duck status in your life. One way of doing it she says is to “claim your own luck, be thankful for it, and pass it on via your example and your generosity.” Today’s word is Eudaemonic. A great word to live by!