A Quiet Crisis of Unhappiness

There’s an interesting piece about the political need to address optimism and happiness in today’s Guardian. Jackie Ashley quotes from a report by Mulgan and Buonfino of the Young Foundation who conclude that british social fabric has been bruised over the last few decades and that Britain is suffering “a quiet crisis of unhappiness”.

Many of the issues are the same ones that I’ve been writing about in my attempt to explore what would make Harlow happy. Similarly, one of the issues that Ashley refers to is the ready deprecation of happiness as an optional extra. Both as individuals and communities, we seem to be in the grip of the same psychological process. We are deferring our happiness ‘until’ other things are achieved first: in transactional analysis terms, this is known as running an until script. Sometimes, the shopping list of what must be sorted first keeps growing to ensure that it will never be the right time to address the outstanding issue. Or we pack out our list of ‘to-be-dones’ with wicked problems that can never be resolved satisfactorily.

A common finding in transactional analysis is that the until script often runs concurrently with the injunction “Don’t have fun”. Fun is too frequently seen as equivalent to play, and therefore the opposite of work, achievement and productivity. However, Pat Kane argues for a play ethic that is essential for us to maintain “our adaptability, vigour and optimism in the face of an uncertain, risky and demanding world”. Kane quotes Brian Sutton-Smith: “The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression”. It’s a startling observation that seems to have a remarkable amount of validation in the world around us, whether that is at work, school, college or our homes.

Happiness is not an optional extra. Happiness affects our quality of life, our health and even our longevity. Communities need hope and optimism to believe that it is worth investing our resources of time and energy in the places where we live, study and work. Happiness can not be deferred ‘until’, it is part of the necessary fabric and process of our lives. It is time to address the issue of happiness at all levels, from individuals and communities onwards.

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project