Happiness Insights
Happiness is a difficult concept wrapped in semantics. I prefer the word contentment as the goal in life. A rabid sports fan has frequent moments of happiness whenever his/her team wins, BUT may be relatively discontented with his/her life. I reckon happiness generated purely by events outside one's own sphere of influence cannot possibly generate contentment in one's life. That is probably why inherited wealth has so little impact on a person's happiness.
I recently read an interesting book by Eric Weiner who spent a decade as a foreign correspondent for NPR. The title of the book is The Geography of Bliss. The author has made the study of happiness as kind of a hobby and is familiar with the many studies on what makes people happy. How to accurately measure happiness is no clear measure; but no matter the method used, the people in some countries appear happier than others. On most of these studies the U.S. comes in somewhere between 20 and 30 on the list. I mean wow. Not all that good. This is a difficult and strange period in American history. We are used to being #1 in most all important matters and an example for others to follow. Somehow, about the only thing we are number one is in the production of weapons of mass destruction, military bases all over the globe, invasions of other sovereign countries, the biggest debtor nation, and more deaths to people from war. We no longer lead in education, in protecting the environment, in mass transportation, in health care for it's citizens, etc. To top all this off, for decades now no industrialized nation has steered more of its wealth into the hands of so few as in this country. This is, of course, worrisome.
Regarding happiness, two aspects of this topic interest me: what factors contribute to a person's happiness and what factors contribute to people in an entire country being happier on average than citizens in other countries. The author visited some of these countries where people are purported to be the happiest and one of the countries purported to be one of the unhappiest. He combined his observations with the various studies on happiness and I think did an excellent job. None of the numbered factors which follows are a product of my own research or observations on the topic. The list below might be helpful on two counts. First to understand why some countries have a happier population than others, and second, to see what factors each of us might need to focus on to improve our own personal happiness. As I said before I prefer the word contentment, but will stick here with the word the author used. All the statements below mean on the average. Obviously all people in any country are not at the same happiness level.
1. Extroverts are happier then introverts.
2. Optimists are happier than pessimists
3. Married people are happier than single people. This stat may be misleading. For example unhealthy people, unattractive people, people with mental disorders etc are less likely to marry and be unhappy single for reasons having nothing to do with being single.
4. Couples with children and couples without children score about the same
5. Republicans are happier than Democrats, maybe because liberals tend to feel the pain of others more than conservatives. Conservatives would deny this vigorously.
6. People with college degrees are happier than those without. I suspect people with college degrees are better able to improve their lives and feel more needed on their job.
7. People who attend religious services are happier on average than those who do not.
8. Homogenous countries are happier than diverse societies. Less friction I guess.
9. The gap between the rich and the poor does not always reflect the average happiness of the citizens.
10. Many of the happiest countries have the highest suicide rate. Maybe when so many are happy and you are not it hurts more.
11. Extreme poverty produces unhappiness. On the other hand, a recent study in the United States showed that after $75,000 the happiness level is not related to income.
12. Democracy doesn't promote happiness but the happiest countries are more likely to be democratic.
13. Most of the world is happy.
14. Socialistic countries tend to be the happiest. Perhaps the less stress associated with health insurance, jobs, enough vacation days, education, transportation, etc. contribute to the lower stress levels and more happiness.
15. Tolerance of others generates happiness. For example, in many of the happiest countries soft recreational drugs are legal and so is prostitution. Live and let live affects happiness levels in a country
16. Cleanliness generates happiness. Cleanliness refers to public places including mass transportation, etc.
17. Good public transportation promotes happiness
18. Absence of envy promotes happiness. The whole advertising industry is built around creating envy. In a country like Switzerland people try to hide their wealth, in American the wealthy tend to flaunt it.
19. People who don't swing between great emotional highs and lows are happier.
20. Firm just rules which make a society functional promotes happiness
21. Love of nature promotes happiness
22. "brophilia", the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms promotes happiness
23. Natural settings promote happiness. People with window views of nature are happier than those without such views.
24. Countries where people can control their own dying process, including suicide, are happier. Probably a lot of people fear loss of control over their own dying process more than death.
25.Meaningful work promotes happiness
26. Friendly family ties promotes happiness
27. Trust promotes happiness
28. Happiness is related to the number of people you know within a 15 minute walk of your house.
29. A certain amount of boredom appears related to happiness
30. Affluence breeds impatience and impatience undermines happiness
31. Feeling you would rather live somewhere else undermines happiness.
32. Attentive people are happier people.
33. Low crime rate increase the level of happiness in a country
34. More monks than soldiers creates a happier country
35. Realistic expectations promotes happiness
36. Compassion contributes to being happy
37. A good imagination contributes to happiness
38. Coming to Terms with mortality contributes to happiness
39. Economic advantage not predominating over doing the right thing contributes to happiness
40. talking a lot about happiness reduces happiness level
41. wealth does not bring happiness. Americans are 3X wealthier than 50 years ago and are no more happy.
42. Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross national Product.
43. Knowing when enough is enough promotes happiness. Rich societies fail here.
44. Not feeling every activity must be productive contributes to happiness
45. Extensive traveling does not promote happiness
46. The ability to compromise promotes happiness
47. As evidence that wealth alone does not promote happiness 90% of Bhutanese who study abroad return to Bhutan to live---a country where citizens earn about 100 times less than Americans.
48. People who value protecting nature are happier.
49. Good health promotes happiness
50. Connecting with people and issues larger than ourselves promotes happiness
51. Seeing nature as an evolutionary process in which our parentage is infinite promotes happiness
52. a rich cultural history promotes happiness
53. Positive relationships with others promotes happiness
54. A certain amount of creative turbulence promotes happiness
55. The happiest countries are not worked up about sectarian religious dogma---instead they believe in 6 week vacations, human rights, democracy, lazy afternoon's, casual dress, etc.
56. Lottery winners return to their same level of happiness as before.
57. Good luck promotes happiness via place of birth, physical attributes, quality of schools attending etc.
58. Craving for something is not the same as getting pleasure from it once attained. There are little neural connections between parts of the brain that control wanting and parts of the brain that control liking.
59. People who are busy are happier than those who are not busy.
60. The opportunity for social mobility promotes happiness
61. Colder climates tend to increases level of happiness
62. Being cooperative increases happiness
63. moderate and responsible use of recreational drugs increases happiness
64. Unemployment reduces happiness more than high inflation.
65. Creativity increases happiness
66. Mastering language increases happiness
67. Lack of envy increases happiness
68. Some self delusion promotes happiness
69. Believing in something promotes happiness
70. Countries which accentuate communal harmony are happier than individualistic countries.
71. Countries filled with learned helplessness are among the unhappiest
72. Countries with little pride are the unhappiest
73. Countries with the attitude of "not my problem" are among the unhappiest
74. Countries where a lot of people get pleasure from other's misfortune are among the unhappiest countries
75. Countries saturated with passivity for survival are among the unhappiest.
76. A feeling of being useful promotes happiness
77. cell phone addiction promotes unhappiness
78. For happiness it is better to be a small fish in a clean pond than a big fish in a polluted lake.
79. Cultures that reward meanspiritedness and deceit promote unhappiness
80. Cultures which promote carnal pleasures the most are not among the happiest countries
81. Cultures which don't take things too seriously promote happiness
82. Cultures which believe in reincarnation promote happiness via a belief that life will be better in the next life.
83. Realizing what things you cannot change makes life less heavy and promotes happiness
84. Accepting that one is born in a world of suffering, so suffer and hold your peace---this may relieve some of the pain but does not promote happiness
85. Countries where wealth is heavily taxed are happier
86. Pet owners are happier than non pet owners
87. Stopping a tooth ache is not a path to happiness, that is, the absence of pain is not happiness
88. People who volunteer are happier than those who don't
89. For some, unpredictability promotes happiness
90. People who leave room for imperfection are happier than those who don't.
91. People are happiest in youth and old age.
92. Calcutta's destitute are happier than the destitute in California. Perhaps this is because in India being poor is fate, maybe bad karma from a previous life, whereas in California it is personal failure.
93. People filled with gratitude for their blessings are happier than those not so inclined.
94. Livable wages promote happiness.
I was able to pull out almost 100 factors which are purported to affect happiness levels on a personal or national basis. All of this is fine and interesting but what meaningfulness is to be gained from knowing all this? I suppose, if one is unhappy with their life they could make some selected changes.
What does the author have to say about the happiness position of the U.S.? On happiness studies in varied countries, the U.S. always falls somewhere between 20-30. For the richest country in the world this seems odd. After all, we are 3 times richer per person than in 1950. I guess we should be off the scale with happiness. Some things are troubling. Since 1960 the divorce rate has doubled, teen suicide tripled, violent crime rate has quadrupled. Compared with the happier countries, the U.S. workers work longer hours and commute farther than in any other country. Since 1960 Americans spend less time with family and friends and belong to fewer community groups. Loneliness is solved by the internet. 8/10 Americans think about happiness at least once a week----some sort of feeling what is missing in their lives/ To meet these widespread feelings America has the largest self help industry in the world. Compared to the past, Americans move a lot, are almost gypsy like. In the past people grew where they were planted.
TO ME it seems a lot of our current mindset reflects our past. Our country's past is filled with unlimited opportunities, violence, individualism, and there was always the frontier for those dissatisfied----you could just pick up and start over. That is gone now and yet we still feel the individualism, the use of violence and war to solve conflict, a commitment to unregulated capitalism, and have rejected high income and inheritance taxes on the wealthy. With 1-5% of our population now holding 90% of our wealth we are feeling the consequences, but with all that concentrated wealth comes the power to indoctrinate and manipulate voters via effective and professional propaganda to control all three branches of our government. History has shown that most 'empires' collapsed for two reasons: a foreign 'empire' of some sort that was too expensive to manage or control (military bases and wars) and an implosion from within as far too much of the wealth became concentrated in the hands of too few. Perhaps our fate is no different.
Of course God's created evolutionary process is not focused on happiness but progression from simple to more complex. It is hard to view evolutionary history and not feel we are at the precipice of a major tumultuous event. In my own mind there are 4 factors which are bringing such an tumultuous event upon us. Human overpopulation (defined as more people existing than there are natural resources for the kind of life many of us live); a rapidly increasing disproportionate accumulation of wealth into the hands of a few: a transformation to a global economy with no global minimum wages; and a rapid depletion of natural resources including arable land, water, species extinction---matched by air, land, and water pollution. I suppose one could add to this the rise of terrorism and decline of battles involving national armies. IF the aforementioned are in fact the reality, then economic recovery is not possible. Implementation of responsible reproduction seems beyond even mild debate, evvironmental protection impossible without it, and not something which people are remotely willing to face.Terrorism is something which is currently feared from people in other countries, the rebels outside the control of our own 'empire' who insanely, logically, or otherwise want American military or American corporate control of their economy out of their country. But the terrorism most to be feared will be that from within as more and more citizens are left with less and less. As we should have learned from Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, now Afghanistan, and all of history, the have-nots always win in crunch time and especially so when the have-nots comprise a large share of a domestic population. Sharing wealth and responsible reproduction may be something which goes against the grain of human nature, and perhaps beyond human capability at this point in God's evolutionary process, but if so----it tis' a shame since a society's survival depends on such restriction on greed. There have been more changes, many for the good, in my lifetime than any other lifetime in human history. In the end perhaps greed, the inability to understand when enough is as good as a feast, reproductive responsibility, and the necessity of following the Golden Rule for progress to continue----perhaps therein lies some sort of human Waterloo at this point in evolutionary history. Whatever, what is for certain is that WE ALL, AS INDIVIDUALS---GO, TIME STAYS.
