Rethinking Happiness

Finland is consistently ranked as the happiest country in the world. The basis for this is the annual World Happiness Report, which is based on a simple question about happiness asked to people around the world. 

However, a new study led by Lund University in Sweden suggests that it makes people think more about power and wealth.

Using the same question to measure happiness over time and cultures, is arguably a simple and fair way to compare results on a global scale – no easy task, after all. How happy are countries around the world really? 

The question at the center of the World Happiness Report is known as The Cantril Ladder: Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. 

On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?  READ MORE...

Happiest Country in the World

For the last six years, Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world. I’ve lived here most of my life, and as a psychologist and happiness researcher, I’m often asked: what exactly makes people in Finland so satisfied with their lives?


You may be surprised to learn that Finnish people are often the first to question this characterization. Our national self-image is that we’re quiet, introverted and somewhat melancholy types. This doesn’t exactly align with being the happiest people on earth.


However, research has shown that those most desperately seeking happiness tend to be less happy. So if true happiness is best achieved indirectly, without paying too much attention to it, that is something Finnish people excel at.     READ MORE...

What To Do In Order To Be Happy

Are you in a slump you can’t get out of? Do you often feel like a drone that’s only working, sleeping, and not much else?

Well, that was me only a couple of years ago. However, I’ve managed to turn my life around and be happier than ever.

Here are the things I did every single day that helped me make a 180.

1) Dance or listen to music
Music has a powerful impact on mood. Put on your favorite music and dance like no one’s watching.

Now, I won’t lie to you and say that I danced every day. Or ever. Dancing isn’t my forte.

But I did listen to music that lifted my spirits and inspired me to take on new projects. Apart from that, there are so many motivational videos you can listen to that will help you get moving if you’re stuck in life.

The thing is, you should do this every day. Don’t wait for the time you need it. Simply make this a routine.

2) Have self-compassion
If you’re anything like me, you’re often your harshest critic. You’re never satisfied with your work, interactions with other people, or your life in general.

That’s, of course, a big mistake. It’s also a surefire way to never get ahead in life and stay deeply unhappy.

Treat yourself with kindness and understanding. When facing challenges or making mistakes, remind yourself that it’s okay to be imperfect.

Self-compassion encourages a healthier relationship with yourself and reduces self-criticism.

Ultimately, why make your life even harder than it already is? Why be a starving artist if you can be a thriving one?

Here’s another thing that will help you feel better and happier.

3) Lift your spirits with positive self-affirmations
Positive affirmations help you reinforce positive beliefs about yourself. Repeat affirmations such as:

• “I’m capable,”
• “I can do this,” or
• “I’m resilient”  to boost your self-esteem and self-confidence.

Pump yourself up or have a pep talk in the mirror each morning if you have trouble going through the day.

The key is to be specific in your affirmations. Instead of using broad statements, narrow them down to address individual aspects of your life.

For example, if you’re working on self-confidence, say, “I’m confident in my abilities in…”    READ MORE...

Talking About Happiness

Many of us are taught to believe that we need to be in perfect control of our lives in order to be successful or accepted. But that mindset made me unhappy for years.

Growing up nonbinary, I spent a lot of time escaping to an imaginary world where I controlled everything, including what other people thought of me. I constantly chased this idea that if I could just get that boyfriend, that job, or that money and acclaim, I could finally relax and be happy.

To break this toxic mental habit, I did something drastic: I moved to the woods and lived amongst a community of Buddhists, and have since spent 20 years studying Zen Buddhism.

At the monastery, I learned a valuable lesson about happiness that people often overlook: We can’t control everything that happens to us, but we can control how we treat ourselves. Allowing ourselves to feel happy, no matter what our life looks like, is the key to real happiness.  READ MORE...

How To Be Happy Alone

True happiness comes from within.

And while you can always turn to others for a mood boost, there's nothing quite like being content with your own company. That said, can you really be happy alone?

Yes, but it's all about perspective.

The word "alone" sometimes carries a negative connotation since many equate it to being lonely and, well, sad. However, that is simply not the case as the two words have completely different meanings.

“Feeling lonely is actually completely different from being alone. Loneliness is a feeling while being alone in a situation," Dr. Nina Vasan, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Real told TODAY.

With the right techniques, you may be able to get past this feeling of loneliness, whether you're single, going through a breakup or simply miles away from the people you love. “For example, if you’re by yourself but connecting to others through good communication or activities like volunteering, you don’t feel lonely," she said.

In fact, the ability to enjoy the joys of quality alone time may just be the greatest act of self-love. Not to mention being alone — whether by choice or circumstance — gives you time to be "introspective, creative, or engaged through activities like journaling, painting, reading a book or building something for your house."

Read on for expert-backed tips and tricks on how to be happy alone. Implement one (or all) of these techniques into your everyday life to remind yourself the happiness should always start and end with you. Who knows, you may even find that you're a better friend, partner and colleague because of it.  READ MORE...

Global Happiness

Mapped: Global Happiness Levels in 2022

What really makes people happy? While countless academic researchers have tried to get to the bottom of this, the truth is, it’s a complicated question to answer.

Happiness levels depend on a number of factors, including one’s financial security, perceptions of social support, feelings of personal freedom, and much more.

This map pulls data from the World Happiness Report to uncover the average happiness scores of 146 countries. It shows average scores from 2019 to 2021, and highlights which countries are the happiest—or unhappiest—and why.

How is Happiness Measured?

Before diving in, let’s briefly touch on how happiness levels are measured in this report.

The numbers shown represent the survey data from thousands of respondents for each country, who are asked to rate their subjective well-being (happiness score) using the Cantril life ladder question. For more information on the methodology of this and technical notes, go here.

The report also does a regression analysis to look at how happiness scores could be explained, by looking at tangible and intangible factors that could factor in:

• Social support
• Life expectancy
• Freedom to make life choices
• Generosity
• GDP per capita
• Perceptions of corruption
• Positive and negative affects

Similar to last year, the report takes special considerations to track how COVID-19 has impacted aspects of our daily lives, and how it’s affected global happiness levels.

Editor’s note: there are several countries covered in last year’s report that were not included in this year’s dataset, including Haiti, Maldives, and Burundi.

Zooming in: Regional Happiness Levels

Worldwide happiness comes in at an average score of 5.6, which is a slight improvement since last year’s report. Below, we dive into each region’s happiness levels.

North America

Current Mood: Happy (6.3)

Like last year, Canada ranks first as the happiest country in North America. However, it’s lost some ground on the global ranking, placing 15th this year compared to 14th the year prior. In contrast, the U.S. climbed three places in this year’s report and ranked just under Canada with a score of 6.97 (7.0 after rounding).  READ MORE...

Being Happier

Buying things won’t make you happier. But research shows that buying time can, as long as you do it the right way.

In 1930, the influential economist John Maynard Keynes assessed how technological and economic advances had reduced the number of hours the average person worked. He predicted that within two generations, most people would work only three hours a day.

Working hard wouldn’t be a problem. Filling all that free time would, for most people, be the problem.

While Keynes got a lot of things right, he swung and missed on that one. Technological advances have not freed up the average person’s time. Neither have broader economic advances.

Nor has increased wealth. In fact, some studies show that the more money people make, the less time they think they have.Add it all up, and money can’t buy you happiness.Unless, purposefully and consciously, you use a little money to buy a little time.

In a 2017 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers surveyed thousands of people who sometimes paid other people to perform tasks they didn’t enjoy or didn’t want to do. Like mowing the lawn. Or cleaning the house. Or running errands. Stuff they needed to do, but didn’t particularly want to do.

Unsurprisingly, people who were willing to spend a little money to buy a little time were happier and felt greater overall life satisfaction than those who did not.

Correlation isn’t always causation, though. Maybe the people who spend money to buy time are happier simply because they have the money to buy time?

Nope. While relatively wealthy people who spent money to buy a little time were happier than relatively wealthy people who did not, people at the bottom end of the economic spectrum who spent money to buy a little time were happier than those at the bottom end of the economic spectrum who did not.  READ MORE...

Hard to be Happy

The self-help industry is booming, fueled by research on positive psychology – the scientific study of what makes people flourish.At the same time, the rates of anxiety, depression and self-harm continue to soar worldwide. So are we doomed to be unhappy, despite these advances in psychology?

According to an influential article published in Review of General Psychology in 2005, 50 percent of people's happiness is determined by their genes, 10 percent depends on their circumstances and 40 percent on "intentional activity" (mainly, whether you're positive or not).

This so-called happiness pie put positive-psychology acolytes in the driving seat, allowing them to decide on their happiness trajectory. (Although, the unspoken message is that if you are unhappy, it's your own fault.)

The happiness pie was widely critiqued because it was based on assumptions about genetics that have become discredited. For decades, behavioral genetics researchers carried out studies with twins and established that between 40 percent and 50 percent of the variance in their happiness was explained by genetics, which is why the percentage appeared in the happiness pie.

Behavioral geneticists use a statistical technique to estimate the genetic and environmental components based on people's familial relatedness, hence the use of twins in their studies.

But these figures assumed that both identical and fraternal twins experience the same environment when growing up together – an assumption that doesn't really hold water.

In response to the criticism about the 2005 paper, the same authors wrote a paper in 2019 that introduced a more nuanced approach on the effect of genes on happiness, which recognized the interactions between our genetics and our environment. READ MORE...

Healthcare Happiness

I am the only member of our parent's family that is dealing with serious health issues and while one could say that it is my fault...  I would tend to agree with that in part because I did not know how to manage my stress...  and, it is not managing my stress that caused me to have a heart attack about 13/4 yeras ago.  

Prior to my heart attack, I had stopped smoking, stopped drinking alcohol, stopped eating red meat, sugars, and fried food s decade before my heart attack actually took place.  Additionally, my blood pressure was low, my cholesteral was low, no family member with heart issues...  so NO TYPICAL MARKERS that underscore a heart attack...

Therefore it must have been stress...

About this same time frame, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's "B" Cell Lymphoma and five years after that I was diagnosed with Melanoma that spread from my foot to my groin to my neck.  I am currently being treated for 2 cancers simultaneously and the meds do not seem to be fighting each other which is a good sign.

My healthcare costs are somewhere between $500,000 and $750,000 depending upon the various tests that I have to see if my cancers have spread.  These tests are typically a CT or a PET scan that I received quarterly.  I also have quarterly tests for my heart as well and since my PSA results are high, I have been seeing a Urologist and have had a biopsy of my prostate.  Since my nuclear stress test for my heart showed a blockage, I have had a recent heart cath that actually revealed NO PROBLEMS at all...  but, these tests are expensive.

My health is STABLE and that is why I have healthcare happiness...

Success is Relative

There are people or should I say citizens living in the United States that are currently working for $10/hour and if they were to receive a wage increase up to $15/hour then they would feel like they have been successful in their careers.

There are other citizens living in the United States who currently feel that if I do not generate $10 million of annual income that their careers have not been successful.

Both individuals are correct in their assessment of themselves and obviously both live completely different lifestyles...  but... what is the correct measure of success?

• One's paycheck?
• One's net worth?
• One's spiritual beliefs?
• One's family and friends?
• One's healthy lifestyle?
• One's frugal lifestyle?
• One's honesty and integrity?
• One's kindness to animals?

Success accentuates the positive not the negative...  however and this oftentimes happens, if one is to be success one also has to create a certain amount of negativity in order to get there...  wherever there might be.

That is to say that success creates winners and losers and while success sometimes does create winners and winners that oftentimes does not happen due to the circumstances that always leads to one's success...  in that the circumstance always pivot around competition.

You might have enough money to purchase a house for $20,000 over the listed price and because others cannot afford to go higher than $20,000 over listed price, you successfully are able to purchase the house that you want, while others were not successful.

How many times does a loser lose before that loser finally decides to quit?

And, therein lies the difference, the winner does not count the number of loses only the number of wins...  and, mathematically or statistically, a winner loses just as often as a winner wins.

Winners don't quit...  which is why most of them are ultimately successful.

However, one can still be successful by not setting such high and lofty goals.

Why not strive for a net worth of $500,000 instead of a net worth of $10,000,000?

One can be successful at both goals.

BUT, our society only measures true success on the amount of financial capital one accumulates over one's lifetime.  Therefore, the more wealthy are the more successful.

I don't think that is the true measure of success and I feel this way not because I don't have a lot of money saved or invested because I have all that I need to live a comfortable life for the rest of my life.  Some may think my definition of comfortable is wrong because my 1500 square foot home will never compare to their 15,000 square foot home or their 10,000 square foot beach cottage on the coast or at Martha's Vineyard.

What can one do in a 15,000 square foot home?  I mean would you allocate so much time each day to be spent in each room or are those extra rooms there for guests that may or may not show up but once or twice a year, around the holiday period.

Why would you want to read a book alone in a room that could easily hold 100 guests.  All one needs is a chair and a lamp or a window with the curtains open.

I am sitting at my desk right now in an 8 X 10 foot room, looking out the window that my Siamese cat is also looking out of, at the three Dogwood trees that I intentionally planted very close together so that they would create an umbrella affect as they matured.  One blooms pink, one white, and one red in the spring of every year without fail.

I planted them that close to symbolize the religious trinity from which a lot of my inspiration comes these days as I find myself aging out of life.  I look at those three trees and I ponder all sorts of things but mainly how I have survived two types of cancer growing side-by-side in my body for over 12 years.

To me, having a window to look out of and see these three trees that enables my mind and thought to be grateful and appreciative of the life I have been given, to me, is being successful.  I don't need a lot of money to help me generate happiness...  and, I feel sad for those who need money or perceive that they need money to generate their happiness for themselves and others.

College Degree = Success = Happiness

Many well educated and well experienced people belief beyond a shadow of a doubt that having a college degree in the KEY to having a successful career and happy life.  In fact, some believe that not just a BA/BS degree is required to achieve success and happiness but that one should seek out a Masters Degree as well.  HOWEVER, I would submit to you that MONEY and GREED are at the foundation of success and happiness not necessarily one's education.

In addition to one's education, one must be willing (more often than not) to violate their values, integrity, honor, and sometimes morals in order to achieve success and happiness...  Yet, it is true that education opens the door...  but, there is much more to it than that.

Successful people (not necessarily happy ones) put their FAMILIES SECOND behind their EMPLOYMENT and the company that employees them.  Successful people (not necessarily happy ones) are willing to work 60-80 hours a week, including nights and weekends...   and, in many cases are sent out-of-town on business trips at the drop of a hat.

Their family life is non-existent...  Their vacations are oftentimes spent conducting business as well...  and, many people enjoy combining business with pleasure but not all families with children are able to cope with this lifestyle.

My father's job for instance, took him away from the family for 9 months out of 12 and he allowed this to happen for about 10 years until he could find himself in a position where options were being presented to him.  Those options were being presented ONLY BECAUSE HE WAS SUCCESSFUL at accomplishing a variety of goals at which many others before him had failed.

SO...

there is a new criteria to add to education and experience and that is SUCCESSFULLY ACCOMPLISHING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES...  If you don't there is no promotion and one could face termination of employment.

LIVING UNDER THESE CONDITIONS is not a good methodology by which one manages STRESS.

Additionally, many people are awarded PhD's and decide to teach for a living and even with that amount of education, teachers never become WEALTHY...  They are financially well off, but never WEALTHY...   and, if success and happiness is based upon WEALTH, then these people are never considered to be successful or happy.

I believe after working in a career for 45 years, I can say that the happiest I have ever been is when I had eliminated my stress...  and, once stress was eliminated, I also felt like I was finally successful in life.  Success and Happiness was NOT BASED UPON EDUCATION OR MONEY, but on living a life of contentment and wanting for nothing.

WANTING FOR NOTHING goes against the concept of GREED.  Our entire economic system is predicated upon GREED.  If and when Americans stop wanting more, life as we know it will become meaningless...  and yet, that is exactly what one needs to achieve in order to be successful and happy.  Many wealthy people do not considered themselves successful because there is more money to be earned...  and, while these wealthy people have all sorts of toys, the fact that they want/needs more is an indication that they are NOT HAPPY.

HAPPINESS

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

From positivepsychology.com -- happiness is the state of feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. ... Happiness is equated with feeling pleasure or contentment, meaning that happiness is not to be confused with joy, ecstasy, bliss, or other more intense feelings.     Apr 15, 2020

From Wikipedia  --  The term happiness is used in the context of mental or emotional states, including positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. It is also used in the context of life satisfaction, subjective well-being, eudaimonia, flourishing and well-being.

Overlook the fact that, in part, these two quotes contradict each other and focus on what it is that you think constitutes happiness...

• Some believe happiness is achieved with money
• Some believe that happiness is achieved with power
• Some believe that happiness is achieved with ownership of assets
• Some believe that happiness is achieved with a strong faith
• Some believe that happiness is achieved with peace of mind

Given all these differences, one can now easily see why our FOUNDING FATHERS said that our government should focus on THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS...

SO...  the question now becomes does our government give every citizen an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY TO PURSUE?

My pursuit of HAPPINESS is going to be different from your pursuit of HAPPINESS because our physical, mental, and personality limitations are DIFFERENT...  and, they are different because we were not born EQUALLY nor is all our DNA equal which is another reason we are different.  AND...  our differences are compounded with our geographical location and by our birth parents who may or may not be willing to help us with our pursuit of happiness.

SO...  WE AGAIN RELY ON OUR GOVERNMENT...

Government is not our parent nor should it be our parent but some would have us believe that Government SHOULD/MUST be our parent in order to achieve some level of EQUALITY FOR ALL.

Personally, I am not as financially well off as my parents were (both are dead now) and my pursuit of happiness was very much different from their pursuit of happiness and the direction in which they tried to push me.

OUR GOVERNMENT had nothing to do with the choices I MADE and will continue to make until I too am DEAD.

BUT, I was not born in a ghetto...   and unfortunately, I am white...   and, I wonder if my pursuit of happiness and personality would have been different if I were black and born in the ghetto...   but, my wondering is irrelevant because no matter how much I wonder, it will never change who I am and who I have become.

Why do some overcome their handicaps and others do not?

Answering this question is exactly why we will never be equal in America...

HAPPINESS

Happiness is an illusive concept at best...  and while many people think that they have happiness, they actually do not...  because happiness is being in that state-of-mind, where the person WANTS for NOTHING...  and, those who I know who claim that they have found happiness, do not have it because there are THINGS that they still desire...  oftentimes, we CONFUSE being happy with HAPPINESS. 

I am happy that I received my stimulus check, but I still do not have happiness!

Personally, I believe that as you age and get older that you move towards happiness but there are very few, especially Americans who actually have or have found happiness.

Rather sad, but TRUE...