The Pursuit Of Happiness

A Look This Holiday Weekend At How Americans Attain The Good Life

(CBS) 
"Happiness breaks down into three things," Seligman explains. "One is what Hollywood means by happiness, which is the pleasant life. The second notion into which happiness dissolves is engagement in life, the engaged life. And the third notion which is different yet, is a meaningful life, belonging to and serving something that you think is larger than you are."

Which perfectly describes Peter and Mary Gregory.

For the last 22 years, they've operated a retirement home for horses, a refuge for abused horses and other animals in Alachua, Fla.

"This is the pursuit of pleasurable things, you know? You couldn't pay anybody to give you a better life," Peter says.

When Sunday Morning first visited the them in 1994, Peter and Mary seemed extraordinarily happy caring for 70 horses plus assorted abandoned goats, pigs, dogs, and a refrigerator-raiding deer named Thunder. Now, they've got twice as many horses and 17 dogs.

And they're still happy, living the dream they had as newlyweds nearly 60 years ago.

They laugh at the irony of working at least 14 hours a day just so their animals can retire.

"We haven't been to the movies in 22 years. We haven't had a vacation for 22 years, except this one," Peter quips, adding "We're very happy slaves."

The founding fathers would recognize this as the pursuit of happiness, but in ancient times the definition was very different.

"It's kind of the sense that happiness is in some ways related to fortune or luck or the favor of the gods," explains professor Darrin McMahon, who teaches history at Florida State University.