Genuine Wealth

In Telluride, Colorado, the town I was lucky enough to have lived in for seven years, you see bumper stickers proclaiming: "Come for the winter, stay for the summer" or "Come for the winter, stay for the library".  These are fun and have some truth to them but I believe that a bigger broader statement can be made: "Come for the skiing, stay for the community".  Telluride is blessed with all kinds of wealth.  It is an incomparably beautiful mountain town where you can walk to ski lifts, waterfalls and to amazing high alpine hikes and climbs.  It combines the majestic mountains with inspirational festivals such as Mountain Film, Yoga Festival, and the Compassion Festival.  Peaceful, fun, sustainable communities are built upon music such as bluegrass, jazz and blues and then dispersed without a trace.  It is a place of many wonders but most special about Telluride is the community that not only hosts these events and is the steward of natural beauty but that creates a space where sustainability, relationships, and time are valued.

Friends sharing love at Blues & Brews

I thought a lot about Telluride during my Economics of Happiness class.  It made me explore my relationship with Telluride, my reasons for leaving and if I will eventually go back to make it my home.  As I was reading the book titled "The Economics of Happiness" I came across the Genuine Wealth Model and realized that it was describing just about everything I had in my recent past life.

According to the GWM, 50% of happiness, also described as well-being, is genetics, upbringing (family) and environment.  I have always considered myself lucky for the upbringing that my family afforded me.  They fostered the formation of good values and morals but most importantly they brought me up in nature and allowed me to run free.  Each day I played outside whether it was swimming, sledding, exploring the woods with my friends, ice skating until my nose about fell off, catching fireflies, or riding horses.  I ran and played with neighborhood friends and my parents gladly opened the door to my adventures.  I appreciate my childhood to this day and look back on it often with fondness. Telluride is very similar.  If Telluriders can't get outside, they freak out, enter depression and turn to the bottle.  Being in Telluride is synonymous with being in nature.  Families play together on the mountain, at festivals, in the library and at the park.  So, it stands to reason that if you grow up in Telluride, and some people are growing up well into their 40’s, you have a 50% chance at happiness!

Here's the next kicker: 40% of happiness is dependent on recreational activities including socializing, exercising, engagement in meaningful work, appreciating and savoring life and looking at the bright side.  Wow.  That's a loaded sentence and I rated 100% on each of those during my time in Telluride.  Telluride is a recreational paradise and recreation is often combined with socializing on the ski lift, on the trail or at the yoga center. Exercising is a part of life in Telluride.  I walked or rode my bike everywhere and when you live next to a mountain, it beckons to you.  In many ways I was the perfect candidate for Telluride because I couldn't say 'no'.  Nor did I want to!  I loved working for good causes.  I worked for the Latino Initiative, the Free Jazz Project, the Wilkinson Public Library, the Compassion Festival, and I was a teacher.  So, I think I had the meaningful work issue covered.  If anyone knows me, you know that I love life.  I'll sing it from a mountain, I'll sing it on the streets, and I'll profess it as I ride along in a bus in a third world country.  I love life!  In every situation I look for the bright side.  Yes, this takes work but I usually can find it lurking somewhere.

My book club gets some powder turns.

Only a measly 10% of our happiness is derived from income, possessions, marital status, weather and your neighborhood.  It's lucky that it is only a small part because I didn't have much income in Telluride and currently have none, my possessions fit into my car, and I'm quite single.  The weather is fickle in Telluride but after being in Costa Rica I can honestly say that I miss the snow! Telluride is also small enough to be considered a neighborhood in itself.

Happiness and Telluride are a bit more than what I just described.  I would also consider sustainability in the equation as does the Happy Planet Index.  Here Telluride does well considering the many conservation initiatives, CSA’s, the plastic bag ban, green building codes and alternative energy work.  Of course we have to subtract a bit for the empty ginourmous second homes with heated driveways.  It is also a community in the true sense that people partake in creating and sustaining healthy relationships and participate actively in the democratic process.

So what’s my verdict?  I’m not sure yet.  One reason I left was to get out of the ‘Telluride bubble’.  I am ready to contribute to the greater well being of the planet and Telluride is doing pretty well on it’s own.  We need people to get out and spread the wealth of creating sustainable communities.  Also, as wonderful as Telluride is and as little as income matters, it matters a bit in Telluride.  I did struggle there and I am still working out my personal relationship with money.  Society tells us that we need to buy a house and have a good savings.  I’m not sure about all that, but is it wise to put all of your faith and your future in the hands of a community?  Maybe.  It certainly is ideal but it does take a leap of faith and a mental shift. 

So, Telluride, you remain forever in my heart.  I am not ending our relationship.  I’ve created my own community and family of friends that I value with a good chunk of my heart.  So, we’ll stay in touch and see what happens.  Maybe someday we’ll be reunited.