“Creating a happier society requires not just promoting what matters, but also promoting the capacities for discovering what matters.” This article from the excellent Scottish Community Alliance newsletter, explores happiness at a national level.
The problem with happiness
Now that global happiness rankings are being taken semi-seriously (Finland are currently top) some consensus is emerging as to what the core ingredients of happiness should be. But a new book – The Happiness Problem – takes issue with this overly simplistic approach to measuring our collective wellbeing. It recognises, for instance, that more income from a perspective of living in relative poverty, will only make a short term difference to a person’s happiness. This book argues that we need to focus both individually, and collectively through our institutions, on our capacity for qualities such as humility and curiosity.
Sam Wren-Lewis
The Happiness Problem: Expecting Better in an Uncertain World.
Imagine two different societies. In the first, people tend to be stressed, tense, irritable, distracted and self-absorbed. In the second, people tend to be at ease, untroubled, quick to laugh, expansive and self-assured.
The difference between these two imagined scenarios is vast. You’re not only more likely to be happier in the second scenario – you’re also more likely to be safer, healthier and have better relationships. The difference between a happy and an unhappy society is not trivial. We know that happiness matters beyond our desire to feel good.
