Happy Danes and Miserable Brits?

Submitted by tonyplant on July 29, 2006 - 10:51.

A researcher has put together a map of happiness in the world. The map shows that Denmark is the No. 1 destination. Health levels, prosperity and education were the strongest determinants of happiness. Money might not guarantee happiness, but it does make a significant contribution when it is spend on healthcare and education. It probably comes as no surprise that Zimbabwe and Burundi come bottom: oddly enough, the USA is placed at 23 and UK at 41 out of 178 countries.

The researcher makes some interesting comments about why countries appear in the places that they do. He remarks that Asia showed up poorly despite the strong sense of family and collective identity. However, I would speculate that questions that emphasise subjective wellbeing are not culturally appropriate in several countries. Although there is some mention of lower levels of happiness in countries with large population, the examples cited seem to relate more to high population density than large populations (they may overlap but are not necessarily synonymous).

Of course, according to a recent item in The Guardian, happiness is over-rated. Happiness does seem to be a red-rag that precludes discussion of the benefits that it confers. Apart from novels and philosophical/religious speculations about the spiritual ennoblement that suffering gives us, where did we develop the idea that lessons in how to develop our mental and physical fortitude would reduce us to the blandly chipper, annoying others with our mindless cheer and groundless optimism? We can't eradicate sadness or adversity: they are a natural part of life's rhythms. But, for some people, it does seem as if we can do something about our ability to cope with such circumstances.

read more | add new comment | resilience | happystance | happiness | Authentic Happiness | aristotle

Compassion And Its Renewal: why character may be relevant

Submitted by tonyplant on March 1, 2006 - 11:57.

I deeply admire people who work in the arena of addiction. I have no understanding of how they constantly renew their compassion and energy for working with people who can present with extremes of dysfunction.

So, I was interested to come across a blog account that describes why Things Don't Go Better With Coke. Keith Carlson writes:

Working with this poor, chronically ill and generally disenfranchised community, addiction and its unhappy effects are normal aspects of my work, and part and parcel of many patients' lives. Compassion and love are still called for, and judgementalness and criticism only fuel the flames of separation. While my compassion-meter is sometimes pushed beyond its perceived limits, I find there is always more compassion and love somewhere in the chambers of my heart. The ultimate goal is healing, and especially in the face of addiction, compassion and understanding must, in the end, be the energy which fuels the healers' fire.

Challenged to explain how he can constantly renew his compassion, Carlson refers to a sense of gratitude for his own material and social good fortune. He also admires the work of Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama. It may be yet another instance of Aristotle's argument:

men become builders by building houses, and harpists by playing the harp. Similarly, we become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage. (Bk II, Nicomachean Ethics)

However, to an outside commentator, even Aristotle is insufficient to explain why Carlson and people like him have not burned out. It seems that Carlson has remarkable resilience and social intelligence/citizenship. I mention this last because positive psychology argues that when our character strengths and virtues are in line with the demands of our life and work, then people achieve remarkable results and they do not burn out as rapidly as other people would who have different strengths and virtues.

read more | 1 comment | positive psychology | dalai lama | compassion | character | aristotle

Aristotle and why we should fake it 'til we make it

Submitted by tonyplant on December 30, 2005 - 15:44.

I was mauled for my supper last night. Listening to the people around me it seems as if happiness is even less worthy of serious consideration than David Icke’s theories on world government. I was surrounded by people who believe in the virtues of cosmetic surgery as a means of enhancing quality of life and defying our genetic heritage. Yet, when it comes to happiness, the overwhelming consensus was that either one is born happy, or one isn’t and there is nothing that can be done to alter that.

Quoting statistics or books and papers that no-one else has read is not a persuasive strategy for a dinner conversation and I’m belatedly learning that I need to learn another one. I argued that studies by Lykken and others show that we have a happiness set-point that is genetically related, but that this only contributes fifty per cent of our overall happiness level. Of the other fifty per cent, ten per cent depends upon our circumstances and the remaining forty reflects our voluntary actions. So, our behaviour and attitudes have a powerful influence on our happiness levels.

There were the usual cat-calls that alcohol consumption is therefore a significant contribution to happiness. There were derisory comments about the cognitive tyranny of positive thinking that blames the victims of unhappiness for their victimhood rather than attributing it to the blight of poor socio-economic circumstances.

I argued yet again that positive psychology is about far more than positive thinking, it’s about living a life that is fulfilled by the proper use of our character strengths and virtues. The words character and virtues shocked most of those present and were repeated in disbelief. So, I was startled when an Aristotle-quoting Russell Crowe figure entered the fray to support my claim that happiness is a topic that is worthy of our attention, energy and cultivation.

read more | add new comment | Sonja Lyubomirsky | kindness | happystance | happiness | depression | aristotle | alcohol

Learning to be mauled for my supper

Submitted by tonyplant on December 28, 2005 - 19:19.

Many vegetarians and vegans are familiar with that popular dinner-party game, Bait the vegetarian. I’ve always been omnivorous but since developing Happystance I’ve acquired a keen sense of kinship with those who are accustomed to being mauled for their supper.

The first reaction on hearing about Happystance is usually, “Tell us a joke, then!”. Now, I wish I had Monkhouse’s facility with quickfire gags. The reason Kenneth Williams and Peter Ustinov are celebrated as brilliant raconteurs is because the gift of engaging others through story-telling is so unusual. So, I usually reply that we would all enjoy ourselves more if we either had an impromptu game of football or staged our own Singing in the Rain.

A dinner table never seems to be the best setting for explaining the history and scientific research that argue that present happiness consists of three elements: the meaningful life; the engaged life; and the pleasant life. Although listening to other people tell jokes has its contribution to happiness, it is a small one in the overall scheme of our lives.

And yet, a mixed-generation family dinner table is in many ways the perfect setting for a discussion of happiness. It just seems as if pre-conceptions about the frivolous nature of happiness preclude any meaningful discussion. Why bother with tomes on the human condition and the search for happiness if it could all be summed up in an exchange of one-liners?

When asked, “What do you want out of life?”, most people reply, “I want to be happy”. Similarly, when asked what they most wish for their children, most parents say, “I want them to be happy”. Yet, we rarely if ever discuss what form that happiness would take, or what it means to be happy. If my recent experience is anything to go by, then many people are opposed to the notion that happiness is a legitimate goal to pursue. Or they state that the only thing that would make them happy is winning the lottery. Which is overwhelmingly bleak when you consider that you are fourteen times more likely to be murdered than you are to win the lottery jackpot. Does the possibility of happiness really depend on such an implausibility?

read more | add new comment | resilience | happystance | happiness | Authentic Happiness | aristotle | alcohol