On The Hunt For Happiness

Context: Analysing the various determinants in the hunt for Happiness.

Happiness around the world:

• The US constitution makes the ‘pursuit of happiness’ an inalienable right.
• In various forms, South Korea, Japan and Brazil also have happiness in their charters.
• Bhutan has a gross national happiness index.
• The UN celebrates World Happiness Day on March 20 every year.

Analysing the various determinants of Happiness:

• Finding a delicate balance between pleasure and virtue: Trying to achieve Happiness by only focusing on pleasure (as propagated by Epicurus) or by only focusing on virtue (as propagated by Epictetus) will not be complete.
• Success: There is a wide perception that Happiness is the result of success. However, according to neuroscience research, the reverse is true (i.e. success is the result of Happiness).
• Thought process of a person: 90% of Happiness is determined by how the brain processes the world; thus, Happiness comes from within.
  • One should follow the AIM (Attention, Interpretation and Memory) Model of Happiness:
    • Pay attention to good things that happen every day.
    • Interpret things correctly to come out with objective responses instead of emotional ones.
    • Use memory to store good experiences that can pay big dividends.
• Money:
  • Correlation is subject to threshold limit: A 2010 Princeton study found that the correlation between Happiness and wealth in the US lasts up to $75,000 a year.
  • A complex relation: According to Motivation-Hygiene Theory, not having money reduces Happiness, but having more money does not necessarily increase Happiness.
    • The fact that money brings control over life is a bigger determinant than what money buys.
• Habits (sum of faith, family, friends and work): According to Arthur C Brooks, subjective well-being is a sum of genes, circumstances and habits, among which habits had a dominant role.
  • According to a study by Harvard in 1938, people who were more socially connected were happier. 
  • It is at the centrality of productive human endeavour.
• Controlling Desire: and getting off the hedonic treadmill is important for achieving happiness.
• Behaviour with fellow being: Showing gratitude and kindness towards other persons will increase the Happiness of oneself.