Dean Don Schillinger – College of Education
“Happiness is not ready-made. It comes from your own actions.”
(14th Dalai Lama b.1935-)
Recently, I’ve noticed increasing conversations around the topic of Happiness. While this is only an observation, these observations prompted the short journey through various ideas about Happiness described below.
The journey begins with an assumption that each of us is familiar with the “happiness clause” of the Declaration of Independence – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that their Creator endows them with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
So, if the pursuit of Happiness is a declared unalienable right, it might be purposeful to understand what it means to pursue Happiness. Therefore, here begins a journey, albeit brief, in search of Happiness. But, where does a search like this begin? Whom do you ask? Do you venture to Katmandu, search the Marvel multiverse to query Dr. Strange, comb the depths of ancient libraries to read the works of Aristotle, sages of antiquity, or perhaps the wisdom literature of the Bible. Well, I guess you could, but instead, I asked some modern oracles – Siri, Alexa, and Google.
Hey Siri, “who is an expert on happiness?” Response – Sean Anchor. Well. If Siri says he’s an expert, Sean Anchor must know something about Happiness. Sure enough, he even has a definition for it – “Happiness is the joy you feel moving toward your potential.” Anyone who spends most of his time studying Happiness and speaking and writing books about it must know much about it. In one of Anchor’s books, he discusses the Happiness Advantage. Apparently, it is advantageous to be happy – who knew? In Before Happiness, his follow-up to the Happiness Advantage, he informs us that one of the 5 hidden keys to success is to spread Happiness. Then, in How to Make a Shark Smile, a book for children, we learn that a positive mindset is needed to spread Happiness. So, what have we learned about Happiness on our first stop? First, there is an advantage to being happy. Second, the key to success is to spread it (Happiness) once you get it, and a positive mindset is required to spread it effectively. With this knowledge, the search continued.
Next stop – Imagine my surprise in learning there is a man named Hector who has already pursued Happiness – there’s a movie about it, Hector and the Search for Happiness. IMBD describes it as, “A psychiatrist searches the globe to find the secret of Happiness…the disillusioned psychiatrist, Hector, confesses to his girlfriend that he feels like a fraud for dispensing recommendations to patients who never seemed to improve or get happier. He considers breaking out of his lackluster routine. Summoning up some courage, Hector embarks on an international quest to find the right formula to bring him joy and vitality.” Sidenote – Simon Pegg plays Hector.
After his journey, Hector reviews his journal and summarizes his search results with 15 observations. I’ve included the Top 10. At least, these are the ones I thought were the top 10.
- Making comparisons can spoil your Happiness.
- Many people see Happiness only in their future.
- Sometimes Happiness is not knowing the whole story.
- Avoiding unhappiness is not the road to Happiness.
- Happiness is answering your calling.
- Happiness is being loved for who you are.
- Fear is an impediment to Happiness.
- Happiness is feeling completely alive.
- Happiness is knowing how to celebrate.
- Nostalgia is not what it used to be.
- *Lagniappe – Sweet Potato Stew! (Watch the movie, then you’ll understand.)
Next stop in search of Happiness – Psychology Today
A search of Psychology Today produced the wonderfully happy (tongue firmly in cheek) post – The Search for Happiness: A brief look at destination addiction. Considering Hector’s globe trotting and then this post, my thought – traveling must have something to do with Happiness. However, on further reading, in fact, the next paragraph included a warning, “Beware of Destination Addiction – a preoccupation with the idea that Happiness is in the next place, the next job, and with the next partner. Until you give up the idea that Happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are.”
By the way, while not mentioned earlier, this was also Hector’s conclusion, that Happiness was not out there somewhere, at the next destination, dependent upon something external.
Next stop on the Ask Siri, Ask Alexa, Ask Google search – The 2022 World Happiness Report, the 10th-anniversary edition. If you are not aware of the World happiness Report (WHR), you may want to check it out as it contains an abundance of fascinating and valuable data and information. Meanwhile, the bits below provide small samples from the 158 page 2022 report.
From the “bet you don’t know this category, “- much of the growing international interest in Happiness, exists thanks to Bhutan. They sponsored Resolution 65/309, “Happiness: Towards a holistic approach to development,” adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 19 July 2011, inviting national governments to “give more importance to Happiness and well-being in determining how to achieve and measure social and economic development.” (p. 3)
World Happiness Report 2022 Ranking of Happiness by Country 2019-2021
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Switzerland
5. Netherlands
6. Luxembourg
7. Sweden
8. Norway
9. Israel
10. New Zealand
11. Austria
12. Australia
13. Ireland
14. Germany
15. Canada
16. U.S.
17. UK
18. Czechia
19. Belgium
20. France
Note that Finland holds the top spot (5 consecutive years), one of five Nordic countries in the top ten. From this, are we to assume that there is an association between Happiness and living somewhere that is very cold? If that is accurate, I may never be happy, at least not top spot happy.
Some good news – WHR researchers looked at positive and negative effects associated with sustained emotions. They found that the most striking feature is the extent to which the results continue to buttress a finding in psychology that positive emotions matter much more than the absence of negative ones when predicting either longevity or resistance to the common cold. For example, smiling or laughing a lot is the most common of all the components of either positive or negative affect. Also, when considering positive emotions as a whole, they remained more than twice as frequent as negative ones. (page 23.)
Considering negative emotions, although overall anger presented at low global levels, the regional differences are striking with anger being far more prevalent and at a constant level in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) than in the rest of the world. Moreover, evidence of stress is greater now than ten years ago in every global region. (page 32)
Returning to a review of positive emotions and measures of prosocial behavior, three measures —donations, volunteering, and helping strangers—all showed increases in 2021 in every global region, often at remarkable rates not seen for any of the variables tracked before and during the pandemic. In fact, as measured by these prosocial behaviors, Global Benevolence increased dramatically in 2021, nearly 25%. If this is pandemic benevolence, let’s hope the trend continues after the globe returns to “normal”. (page 45)
For more information on topics like -Causes of differences in Happiness between people – Why are some people happier than others, even if they live in the same country under more or less similar circumstances? – Using social media data to capture emotions before and during COVID-19 – Exploring the biological basis for Happiness – and Insights about balance and harmony – download the 2022 World Happiness Report at https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2022/.
As we near the end of our travels in search of Happiness, I’ll leave you with a list – because it is required that every blog post include a list. Below is a list of actions you can take to increase your happiness quotient.
1. Do More Physical Exercise
2. Get More Quality Sleep
3. Put down your cellphone – I think this means, do NOT use it!
4. Take More Social Time – spend more time with your friends and family.
5. Spend More Time Outdoors
6. Help others for two hours per week
7. Meditate
8. Practice Gratitude
9. Spend money on experience, not things
10. Practice Your Spirituality Or Faith
Source: Happiness Hack: 10 Ways To Be Happier, Backed By Science
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/happiness-hack-10-ways-happier-backed-science.html
While not all-encompassing (obviously), this very brief journey in search of happiness found –
There is little or no need to travel worldwide to find it. Most likely, it is as close as where you are. The next thing, the next destination, the next job, the next whatever, is probably not the source of happiness. There is a growing interest globally in factors influencing happiness. Positive actions like smiling and laughing have a significant impact on happiness. Prosocial behavior, which contributes to happiness, is rising (dramatically) globally. Apparently, Finland and other Nordic countries are very happy places; there might be a connection between happiness and living somewhere very cold 😊 Most likely, other factors currently being studied contribute to the Nordic effect.
*Lagniappe(2) – not mentioned previously – An extensive study conducted by researchers at Harvard University could be summarized by the title of a 1967 Beatles tune, All You Need is Love. Positive well-being is closely related to the duration and the positivity of our relationships with people. So perhaps our first investment should be in humans. Try to laugh and smile as much as possible – for your sake and for your neighbor. Be active in prosocial behavior – volunteering, donating in some form, and helping strangers. With that, may all your days be joyful and happy.
Post Script – paraphrasing a verse from the Book of James – To all my brothers and sisters, find joy in ALL things, even the trials of life.
The Exponential Factor 