Summer Special: Rethinking Happiness

Try listing out ten things that give you genuine happiness. 

We talk a LOT about wellness, but what about happiness? In non-Western cultures and increasingly in societies encouraging speed, productivity, output, and “success,” happiness is decreasing in importance.

Off the top of your head, try coming up with a definition of happiness. You could go the scientific route and say it’s an emotion triggered by the release of specific neurotransmitters in the brain. Happiness could be defined by what it is not — it isn’t sadness or suffering. You could also use synonyms like joy, satisfaction, etc. But are any of those options true definitions of happiness? 

Emotions are difficult to understand and even more difficult to assign a single definition. We can begin by understanding happiness through what makes us feel happy.

Revisiting Happiness: The Happiness Lab

Let’s revisit the list you made. Are “more money,” “high grades,” “fancy cars,” or “luxurious vacations” on there? 

According to Dr. Laurie Santos, a professor at Yale University, you’re dead wrong if you think those things will make you happy. Her podcast “The Happiness Lab” (https://www.happinesslab.fm/) uses scientific research to reframe the way you think about happiness. It turns out you can find happiness in everything, from embracing the grieving process to navigating the “meh” feeling of “languishing” to abandoning anxiety. I suggest you check out the podcast, for Dr. Santos’ personality if not for her knowledge… trust me, after one of her “fun-terventions,” you’ll think very differently about one of life’s most beautiful feelings.

Rethinking Happiness: Bhutan

Remember I mentioned neglecting happiness out of extreme concern for “success” and advancement? One nation leading the world in reframing this frame of thought is Bhutan. Along with measuring GDP (gross domestic product) each year, Bhutan, a small, mountainous country in South Asia, measures GNH (gross national happiness). Gross national happiness values collective happiness as the goal of governance; underpinned by Buddhist values, GNH is a subjective report on psychological well-being, health, time use, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards. This concept has been disseminated in cities in Canada, Brazil, the US, and Thailand (where a GNH center polls the nation annually). The GNH method measures economic progress in a way unlike most others — by measuring the happiness and social wellbeing of the population. The GNH method in Bhutan has incurred some resistance and criticism for a variety of reasons, but future iterations of this method could hold the key to a happier society.

And there you have it, folks, two ways happiness is being rethought and refocused on in our modern world.