HAPPINESS IS...

Exploring what happiness means

Being happy seems to be elusive and means different things to people according to their own descriptions.  I asked S. what happiness meant to her and she said, “at peace.”  I asked myself and came up with “being at ease” as I consider comfortable and content with being happy. 

I’ll ask you here, you can respond, and then go with me on this little 4-5 minute trip to explore further.

 “Happiness for me is _________________________.” If you want to put that below in the comment, great, and if not, that’s OK too.

Most of us want to feel happy and fulfilled in our lives, but what does it mean?  Joy and happiness are not the same.  Many people combine the words "joy" and "happiness,", but there is a difference between the two. If it doesn’t make any difference or combining the two works for you, and raises your Spirit, go for it.

Joy is described as "a feeling that is evoked by wellbeing or good fortune," This implies that joy occurs for a brief, defined period of time, whereas happiness is a state of being that is, for the most part, ongoing.

Regardless what definition works for each of us, my intention in writing about happiness is to explore what evokes that “state of being” and perhaps why and where we experience it.

Hang in here with me as I take a deeper dive into the Gross Happiness Index and see if I can make sense of it for individuals, and not just for a large segment of the population.

When I saw the United States had dropped from 16^th to 23^rd in one year on the Gross Happiness Index, I wondered what’s happening that is contributing to the decline. It’s probably also contributing to the increase in the mental health crisis.

 I have been looking at the GHI reports for the past 12 years through reading, checking the data and talking with others. A recent conversation with a good friend, who reads about these things, said it has to do with inverse relationships. Here’s what he wrote to me:

“In America, where historically or maybe just theoretically, if you work hard you get ahead. The evidence tells a different story for many. So, does that affect people who see themselves paying more and getting less? Highest cost for healthcare (some measurements show double that of second place) but by some measurements (Health Care Index) the US tanks 38th in quality and accessibility.

More technology but quality of life is lagging. More entertainment, less joy. With little effort, there are many more examples.

What if the American public has caught on to this trend? Could it possibly be responsible for a somewhat negative backlash where people (and the politicians that read the disgruntled public's needs and pose as leaders in voicing those grievances) now develop a negative view of the possibilities available in the current version of the American dream?

This is a somewhat porous theory, but the presence of some serious inverse social relationships is real.

Can't pass up the opportunity to tie this feature to "increasing returns." In this view, what "has" grows and gets "more" and in return gets more. Simplistically, a snowball effect. As more people view something a certain way, the more people consider it worthy of at least some thought. As more (negative) attention is drawn (mostly by media) to social issues, less positive action becomes available.”

Here's how the Gross Happiness Index works.

The GNH Index identifies four groups of people – unhappy, narrowly happy, extensively happy, and deeply happy.

The analysis explores the happiness people enjoy already, then focuses on how policies can increase happiness and sufficiency among the unhappy and narrowly happy people.

The Index captures the rate of improvement across both happy as well as not-yet-happy people.  Here’s a link to more information from the U.S. that includes what 5,000 Americans said makes them happy. 

https://gnhusa.org/  

There are all kinds of surveys and tests that have measured happiness and the benefits of happy versus unhappy.  Most are psychological and some behavioral assessments.  You know whether or not you are happy or unhappy, whether in general or about specific matters.

What matters is that you matter, that you are important and that you are valuable to others beyond being a consumer! Relationships matter too!

The phrase ‘gross national happiness’ was first coined by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in the late 1970s when he stated, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product.” The concept implies that sustainable development should take a holistic approach towards notions of progress and give equal importance to non-economic aspects of wellbeing and happiness. 

The GNH Index includes both traditional areas of socio-economic concern such as living standards, health and education and less traditional aspects of culture, community vitality and psychological wellbeing. It is a comprehensive reflection of the general wellbeing of the population rather than a subjective psychological ranking of ‘happiness’ alone. That is important to recognize.

Here are the current GHI rankings of the top 30 countries:

1 – Finland  2.  Denmark  3- Iceland  4- Sweden. 5.  Israel.

6- Netherlands. 7- Norway. 8- Luxembourg  9- Switzerland

10.  Australia. 11. New Zealand  12. Costa Rica 13.  Kuwait.

14.  Austria  15. Canada. 16. Belgium 17. Ireland. 18 Czech Republic 19. Lithuania  20 United Kingdom. 21 Slovenia.

22. United Arab Emirates. 23 – United States.  24  Germany

25. Mexico. 26. Uruguay. 27 France. 28. Saudi Arabia.

29- Singapore. 30 Taiwan-

We can agree or disagree with the rankings, the sampling methods, or the overall results  It’s a large aggregate of data, not focused on any one factor but rather an entire country, it’s culture and society.

If you don’t know about the GHI you might want to consider your personal observations and experience regarding where you live. 

I thought about creating a happiness scale for individuals. For example, here’s a scale of 1-5 and you can rank each of 9 domains and then come up with a total score. How about trying it as an experiment?

The questions are:

 1 - How happy are you with each of these 9 domains in your country?   2 – How happy are you with each of these in your life now?  It is a two-level scale, country and self, and you can see how those are in sync or out of sync and how much?  That could be revealing about being comfortable where you are, or not. 

I know it’s anecdotal reporting and somewhat crude and superficial.  It might be a fun parlor game to do with others.  Parlor game?  Those were indoor games that were very popular among the upper and middle classes in the UK and in the U.S. during the Victorian era (1820-1914).  How about trying it just for the fun of it?  It might spark further conversation with your family or friends about what’s important where you live.

Here are the 9 domains:

1 – Psychological well-being

2 – Health

3 – Time use and balance

4 – Education

5 – Cultural diversity and resilience

6 – Good governance

7 – Community vitality

8 – Ecological diversity and resilience

9-  Living standard

Rank each of the domains using the following scale and then total your score. 

1– unhappy; 2 -narrowly happy; 3; neutral; 4 – extensively happy; 5- deeply happy

I am not collecting any personal or group data.  My hope is that you will find this sufficiently interesting to explore and come up with your own conclusions. 

My conclusion is that given what I have been observing in the U.S. and other countries, the results are not all that surprising.  For example, we know that healthcare, in the U.S. compared to other industrialized nations, is very expensive because it is profit driven. The quote from my friend: “US tanks 38th in quality and accessibility.”  That contributes to cost of living and an illustration of the interdependence of the domains used in the GHI.  It is also why a holistic approach makes sense rather than trying to isolate one variable. 

The easy and quick assessment is to choose one of the four groups that you identify with most closely,and see what you make of that.  Here they are again for your ready reference:

1.  unhappy  2. narrowly happy. 3. extensively happy  4. deeply happy

What I find is that I am unhappy about some things, deeply happy about others and to try and sum it all up in one fell swoop seems nearly impossible.  If it’s a forced choice response, I’m going with number 3.  

Researchers think that roughly 40 percent of our happiness is under our own control; the rest is determined by genetics and external factors. That means there's a lot we can do to control our own happiness.

I leave you with this good quote from Ghandi::

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.”