Happiness

Happiness is the quality or state of being happy, of wellbeing without distress. Exact definitions of happiness vary; for example, some contend that it is possible to think you are happy, but not in fact be happy. Happiness is essential to living a good life, and being fulfilled or complete.

• Sun Myung Moon said, "God gives happiness to those who can give it to others. In spite of their sincerity, religious people so far have wanted to receive it only for themselves, thus not giving it to others." [1]

In the United States, the right of all citizens to "the pursuit of happiness" is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.

In Bhutan, royal government makes a statement of Gross National Happiness, which is important to both our King and our Bhutanese people.

Happiness and health

The five components of emotional intelligence are: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

See also: Happiness and health and Emotional intelligence and Self-regulation and Emotion

According to medical science, having an excessive amount of unhappiness in one's overall emotional life can have adverse effects on and individual. See also: Happiness and health

Emotional intelligence (EI) "refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions."

The five components of emotional intelligence are: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

People with emotional intelligence can prevent an excessive amount/duration of negative emotional states such as unhappiness.

While it is not wise to have happiness/pleasure as an end goal (See: Hedonism and Paradox of Hedonism), for the sake of one's health, one should exercise emotional intelligence.

Concerning happiness, according to Torrence Memorial hospital:

“

Healthy Facts About Happiness - Happiness improves your cardiac health. - Happy people are more likely to eat healthily and be more physically active. - Happiness strengthens your immune system. - Happy people are more productive and likely to succeed. - Being happy helps reduce your stress levels. - Happy people have fewer aches and pains. - Happiness helps combat disease and disability. - Happiness lengthens our lives.

”

Articles on happiness and health

• How Happiness Impacts Health, Northwestern Medicine

• Happiness & health, Harvard School of Public Health

Happiness and labor productivity

See also: Labor productivity

According to the U.S. Labor Bureau of Statistics, labor productivity is a "measure of economic performance that compares the amount of output with the amount of labor used to produce that output." The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development states concerning labor productivity: "Labour productivity is a key precondition for high growth of output, employment and wages and central to long-term growth in living standards."

Fast Company's article Research shows happiness is the new performance indicator. This is how managers can support it indicates: "The Saïd Business School study Does Happiness Improve Worker Productivity? found that happiness can have a significant impact on productivity. Results showed that happier workers were 12% more productive than their unhappy counterparts."

The symbiotic relationship between creativity and happiness

See also: Creativity

There is a symbiotic relationship between creativity and happiness (In other words, being happier make you more creative. In addition, being more creative makes one happier.).

World Happiness Index map of 2023

According to the World Happiness Index website:

“

World Happiness Report 2023 use data from the Gallup World Poll surveys from 2020 to 2022. They are based on answers to the main life evaluation question asked in the poll. This is called the Cantril ladder: it asks respondents to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10 and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale. The rankings are from nationally representative samples for the years 2020-2022. The number of people and countries surveyed varies year to year, but by and large more than 100,000 people in 130 countries participate in the Gallup World Poll each year. They are based entirely on the survey scores, using the Gallup weights to make the estimates representative. The sub-bars in the alternate version of Figure 2.1 show the estimated extent to which each of the six factors (levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption) is estimated to contribute to making life evaluations higher in each country than in Dystopia. Dystopia is a hypothetical country with values equal to the world’s lowest national averages for each of the six factors (see FAQs: What is Dystopia?). The sub-bars have no impact on the total score reported for each country but are just a way of explaining the implications of the model estimated in Table 2.1. People often ask why some countries rank higher than others—the sub-bars (including the residuals, which show what is not explained) attempt to answer that question.

”

Map: World Happines Index of 2023

The parodox of hedonism

See also: Hedonism

Hedonism is a philosophy which emphasizes the pursuit of personal pleasure above all other considerations, or as the sole consideration in life.

The paradox of hedonism is that focusing on pleasure seeking often has counterproductive results. For example, gluttony and obesity is a causal factor for many illnesses.

According to the Journal of Public Economics, "The “Hedonistic Paradox” states that homo economicus, or someone who seeks happiness for him- or herself, will not find it, but the person who helps others will.

Unfortunately for hedonists, focusing on pleasure-seeking does not deliver the optimal pleasure and happiness in the long run or even in the short run and instead just delivers emptiness.

See also

• Atheism and happiness