What quantifies happiness?

[buttmunch]

Does the United States strike you as a happy country? July 1776, when Thomas Jefferson claimed the pursuit of happiness as a basic human right, might have been the last time that happiness was officially proposed as a national objective. But in Bhutan the question of national happiness is still up for discussion, thanks to a monarch who insisted, nearly a generation ago, that gross national happiness is more important than gross national product.

An economic cynic may argue that a country with a gross national product as small as Bhutan's can well afford to worry about its gross national happiness, and that the best way to increase GNH is by increasing GNP. But that is essentially an untested assertion, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it isn't necessarily true. Our sense of happiness is created by many things that are not easily measured in purely economic terms, including a sense of community and purpose, the amount and content of our leisure and even our sense of the environmental and ecological stability of the world around us.

To talk about gross national happiness may sound purely pie in the sky, partly because we have been taught to believe that happiness is essentially a personal emotion, not an attribute of a community or a country. But thinking of happiness as a quotient of cultural and environmental factors might help us understand the growing disconnect between America's prosperity and Americans' sense of well-being.

Some sociologists worry that the effort to quantify happiness may actually impair the pursuit of happiness. But there's another way to consider it. The world looks the way it does - as if it is being devoured by some grievous species - partly because of narrow economic assumptions that govern the behavior of corporations and nations. Those assumptions usually exclude, for instance, the costs of environmental, social or cultural damage. A clearer understanding of what makes humans happy - not merely more eager consumers or more productive workers - might help begin to reshape those assumptions in a way that has a measurable and meliorating outcome on the lives we lead and the world we live in.

Does the United States strike you as a happy country? July 1776, when Thomas Jefferson claimed the pursuit of happiness as a basic human right, might have been the last time that happiness was officially proposed as a national objective. But in Bhutan the question of national happiness is still up for discussion, thanks to a monarch who insisted, nearly a generation ago, that gross national happiness is more important than gross national product.

An economic cynic may argue that a country with a gross national product as small as Bhutan's can well afford to worry about its gross national happiness, and that the best way to increase GNH is by increasing GNP. But that is essentially an untested assertion, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it isn't necessarily true. Our sense of happiness is created by many things that are not easily measured in purely economic terms, including a sense of community and purpose, the amount and content of our leisure and even our sense of the environmental and ecological stability of the world around us.

To talk about gross national happiness may sound purely pie in the sky, partly because we have been taught to believe that happiness is essentially a personal emotion, not an attribute of a community or a country. But thinking of happiness as a quotient of cultural and environmental factors might help us understand the growing disconnect between America's prosperity and Americans' sense of well-being.

Some sociologists worry that the effort to quantify happiness may actually impair the pursuit of happiness. But there's another way to consider it. The world looks the way it does - as if it is being devoured by some grievous species - partly because of narrow economic assumptions that govern the behavior of corporations and nations. Those assumptions usually exclude, for instance, the costs of environmental, social or cultural damage. A clearer understanding of what makes humans happy - not merely more eager consumers or more productive workers - might help begin to reshape those assumptions in a way that has a measurable and meliorating outcome on the lives we lead and the world we live in.

I'm thinking more free time would make me a hell of alot happier than more money.

[emcee]

happiness is a warm gun...

kidding, look at my signature. its my favorite simple explanation of happiness

[barbiedoll25]

I definatly think more free time is better than more money. If you have free time you might be less stressed. Sometimes pple think the more money they have the more free time they will have. However, that free time may come when your like 60. What the hell are you gonna do then?

[piperdiva]

hmmmm. at 60? go on vacations, cruises all around the world-like my parents do.

[piperdiva]

we live quite modestly by san diego standards, and I'm quite content. we have an average, well kept home, and food to eat, and clothes to wear. that's enough. i go to target and mervyns for clothes, and i own no diamonds (but i do have moisannite jewlery).

[UndercoverGator]

I think when Thomas Jefferson wrote those words about happiness he could not have forseen our rushed cramped world of deadlines and must dos. Time quantifies happiness in my life. I wish I had more of it.

[cheray]

Freedom of responsibility to other people.

[buttmunch]

I agree with undercover because honestly, even when I was a kid I could not have imagined what the world would turn into. I look at my kids, at age seven, being crammed with homework and pulled this way and that to 'do' things. I won't allow them to join very much because i think they need to learn the value of filling thier free time themselves, but they have friends who have something scheduled every day after school and on the weekends. The kids are stressed out and nutso and have no ability to deal with boredom. I'm starting to get a bit hippie about it actually (much to my dismay) but when you see everyone going nuts and just plain miserable you start to realize there are some things you can't put a price tag on. I'll take time with my kids over anything in the world.

PS. I hope I never get so old as to think cruises will be fun. lol.

[stargazer]

Happiness is (in random order):

-having good health for you and your loved ones
-free time to do whatever it is you do to have fun
-feeling you have some control over your life/destiny
-financial stability
-a sense of purpose in your life
-challenging and worthwhile goals (of any type)
-good food
-love
-freedom from anxiety

[LynnieD]

^^^Yea, thats about it. ^^^

You think everyone getting along with everyone else regardless of their politics, religion, gender, sexual orientation, location, education, appearance, etc..
Would be too much to ask??? Na....