World Happiness Day
This year, 20th March is the United Nations International Day of Happiness. In 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognising happiness as a “fundamental human goal” and called for “a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and well-being of all peoples”.
This year sees the publication of the 10th World Happiness Report which is based on data gathered by the Gallup World Poll. Respondents to the Poll are asked whether they smiled or laughed a lot yesterday. This is a measure of the experience of positive emotions, one of the pillars of happiness. This affirms that positive emotions are good for us, not only because they make us feel better; they make us do good. Feelings like gratitude, amusement, hope, and love add positivity to our lives.
Simply thinking about World Happiness Day raises the spirits. We humans tend towards a more negative than positive outlook on life as we often pay more attention to things that are going wrong than things which are going right. This negativity bias served us well from an evolutionary standpoint. When we were surviving in the wild, constant vigilance in case of attack was life-prolonging. Now life is simpler and easier in some ways, with fewer predators and aggressors, but more complex and difficult in others, with trends towards social comparison and negativity fuelled by social media and salacious news reporters.
Happiness is an elusive concept and means different things to different people. It isn’t a new idea – Aristotle talked about hedonic pleasure; the sort of instant gratification you get from fine wining and dining, and eudaimonic pleasure; a more long-lasting satisfaction you get from living a life with meaning.
Seeking happiness has received bad press. In fact, it’s often said that the more you look for it, the more elusive it becomes. But it’s written into the American constitution, it’s what every parent wants for their children and it’s central to life.
So, how do we cultivate happiness?
Well, the first pre-requisite has got to be that basic needs are met. If you are hungry or fearful for your life, then to be happy is surely unattainable. Given that these very basic needs are met, what else leads to an increase in happiness?
There’s lots of research about happiness and most of it is done in industrialised countries. What matters to an individualised society may be different to what matters in a collective culture. Happiness means different things to different people and is given priority in some cultures over others. One thing that is well-established is that money does not buy happiness. Yes, there’s a certain level of income which leads to a level of security and lack of worry about paying bills and putting food on the table, which does matter. But once you go into a surplus then an increase in the size of that surplus does not lead to lasting happiness. In fact, giving a gift has been shown to produce pleasure in both the giver and the recipient, but it’s the person who gives that feels the larger boost in happiness. Generosity doesn’t just do good; it really feels good.
One of the experts on happiness is Robert Waldinger, psychiatrist, and Zen priest, who worked on the Harvard Grant Study for many years. In this study, which started in 1938, they looked at what makes a good life, interviewing people from the time they were college students until they died. His TED talk, “Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness,” has been viewed 13 million times. Waldinger summed up what really matters. He said “relationships, relationships, relationships”. The key to happiness is simple and complex. It’s not the number of relationships, it’s the quality of them. Investing more in the quality of our relationships pays dividends. Laughing together builds relationships between strangers, it bolsters relationships between friends. Sharing laughter with family and loved ones lays down treasured memories. It’s the knowing that someone has our back that is the most significant contributor to our happiness.
On World Happiness Day let’s be grateful that we are safe. Let’s go about our daily business with a smile and look for laughter to share.
Anna