Looking for happiness in the right places

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Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so. — John Stuart Mill. As noted in a front-page story in the Journal Star recently, people in Puerto Rico rate themselves as the happiest on the planet.

This came as somewhat of a surprise to those who measure societal success by the usual standards — per capita income, crime rates and the like.

Puerto Rico might have sandy beaches and tropical breezes, but it also has double-digit unemployment and a murder rate three times higher than in the mainland United States.

The findings, however, fall in line with recent research into the nature of happiness.

 

What's the use of happiness? It can't buy you money.

— Henny Youngman

Although it is generally true that wealthy nations are the happiest, it turns out that money does not buy happiness. In the United States, happiness actually has declined as income has risen. Forbes noted recently, "Surveys have shown virtually the same level of happiness between the very rich individuals on the Forbes 400 and the Maasi herdsmen of East Africa." Economist Andrew Oswald suspects that unhappiness rises when competitive earners compare themselves with others. One survey showed that lottery winners returned to their previous level of happiness after about five years.

 

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.

— George Burns

Puerto Ricans attribute their subjective happiness to well-connected extended families, public civility — strangers say hello on the street — and an eagerness to celebrate. There are 500 festivals in Puerto Rico, and there are only 365 days in a year, one Puerto Rican told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.

That observation ties in with findings by happiness researchers. Noted researcher Martin Seligmann told Time magazine earlier this year that while many Americans build their lives around pursuing pleasure, it turns out that engagement and meaning are much more important.

 

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.

— Aeschylus

Some research findings raise the question of whether happiness is genetically determined. A study of Minnesota twins found that identical twins reared apart were amazingly alike in their level of happiness, In fact they were about 50 percent more alike in happiness than even fraternal twins who grew up in the same home.

But researchers insist that people can take control of their lives to find greater happiness. Performing acts of kindness such as visiting a nursing home or mowing a neighbor's lawn lift the doers' spirits, experts say. "You have a sense of purpose because you matter to someone else," said researcher Christopher Peterson. Seligmann suggests gratitude visits, writing a letter of appreciation and preferably reading it in person. Psychologist Sonya Lyubormirsky suggests counting blessings in a gratitude journal.

Come to think of it, that just might provide an excuse to celebrate. Maybe the Puerto Ricans are on to something.

Happiness is like a butterfly: The more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

— Henry David Thoreau