The new thinking on happiness
2
Rosie Brogan attends the 2012 ‘Happiness and its Causes’ conference and delivers the low-down on how changing conceptions of what make us happy.
- Health hub/
- Stress relief & sleep support/
- The new thinking on happiness
Are we over ‘happiness’ journalism? Lists of ten things that will inject joy into our every day? You tell me. It’s an interesting debate, and one we need to have considering it’s been about seven years since the headline ‘How to be Happy’ started dancing through the pages of health magazines and Sunday newspaper lift-outs all over the country – and the rest of the Western world.
With this question in mind, I waltzed along to this year’s Happiness and its Causes conference with a questionable amount of enthusiasm. I love attending this annual meeting of bright minds and fluorescent ideas. I never miss it.
But how much is there still to learn? Is it possible to OD on happiness lectures?
Truth be known, I thought I was reaching my threshold.
And if the same old ideas were trotted out – gratitude, good health, exercise, meditation – I might have been tempted to catch a little shut-eye from my amphitheatre chair.
Instead, I found myself uplifted. And, just quietly, pretty darn inspired.
The reason? The happiness debate is evolving.
Here’s how economist and conference speaker, Ross Gittins explains the change in the way we’re thinking about happiness[source 1]:
“I usually talk about happiness because, as a journalist, I know it’s an attention‐getting word, but it’s quite an ambiguous word… What I mean by happiness is not the pursuit of pleasure, nor even contentment (except in the sense that we’re content with our present level of material affluence). A word that comes closer to it is fulfilment – living a life we can look back on with a degree of satisfaction, and without too many regrets.
“But, to me the highest level of happiness – which I’m happy to label the good life – is a life with a lot of concern for others, starting with our nearest and dearest but going further to the less fortunate. Happiness isn’t a euphemism for selfishness; and preoccupation ourselves and our own needs is a bad way to achieve happiness.
A good life will have its share of setbacks and sadness and even anger – not to mention its share of hard work.”
In other words, what I noticed at this year’s talkfest is that the definition of happiness is expanding outwards – to others. There was a lot of talk of giving being central to living well.
“If you want to feel good, do good,” said another speaker, Mark Williams, director of the Action for Happiness movement.
I’m going to devote a whole post to this: it deserves it. But in the meantime, here were two other big, new ideas given up as mind food:
Grow wellbeing
Instead of looking at development (social and economic) via economic growth, perhaps we should measure it via a growth in overall levels of wellbeing.
This can be practiced on an individual as well as a government level – we can encourage policy makers to rethink the terms in which we judge the health and success our society; but we can also set ourselves goals to improving the wellbeing of those around us – supporting our friends through times of stress, and contributing what we can to the mental and physical health of those we love, or those in our immediate community.
Rethink routine
A lot of us tend to live via ‘doing’ instead of just ‘being’. Another way of approaching the ‘see and be’ don’t just ‘do’ objective is to examine our routines, said Professor Ellen Langer from the USA. She says we do the same things over and over and stop seeing new things.
“Notice new things,” she says. “That’s all you need to do. This is the way to be in the present. It’s the essence of engagement.”
What do you think? Are these ideas useful? Do they refresh happiness thinking?
With this question in mind, I waltzed along to this year’s Happiness and its Causes conference with a questionable amount of enthusiasm. I love attending this annual meeting of bright minds and fluorescent ideas. I never miss it.
But how much is there still to learn? Is it possible to OD on happiness lectures?
Truth be known, I thought I was reaching my threshold.
And if the same old ideas were trotted out – gratitude, good health, exercise, meditation – I might have been tempted to catch a little shut-eye from my amphitheatre chair.
Instead, I found myself uplifted. And, just quietly, pretty darn inspired.
The reason? The happiness debate is evolving.
Here’s how economist and conference speaker, Ross Gittins explains the change in the way we’re thinking about happiness[source 1]:
“I usually talk about happiness because, as a journalist, I know it’s an attention‐getting word, but it’s quite an ambiguous word… What I mean by happiness is not the pursuit of pleasure, nor even contentment (except in the sense that we’re content with our present level of material affluence). A word that comes closer to it is fulfilment – living a life we can look back on with a degree of satisfaction, and without too many regrets.
“But, to me the highest level of happiness – which I’m happy to label the good life – is a life with a lot of concern for others, starting with our nearest and dearest but going further to the less fortunate. Happiness isn’t a euphemism for selfishness; and preoccupation ourselves and our own needs is a bad way to achieve happiness.
A good life will have its share of setbacks and sadness and even anger – not to mention its share of hard work.”
In other words, what I noticed at this year’s talkfest is that the definition of happiness is expanding outwards – to others. There was a lot of talk of giving being central to living well.
“If you want to feel good, do good,” said another speaker, Mark Williams, director of the Action for Happiness movement.
I’m going to devote a whole post to this: it deserves it. But in the meantime, here were two other big, new ideas given up as mind food:
Grow wellbeing
Instead of looking at development (social and economic) via economic growth, perhaps we should measure it via a growth in overall levels of wellbeing.
This can be practiced on an individual as well as a government level – we can encourage policy makers to rethink the terms in which we judge the health and success our society; but we can also set ourselves goals to improving the wellbeing of those around us – supporting our friends through times of stress, and contributing what we can to the mental and physical health of those we love, or those in our immediate community.
Rethink routine
A lot of us tend to live via ‘doing’ instead of just ‘being’. Another way of approaching the ‘see and be’ don’t just ‘do’ objective is to examine our routines, said Professor Ellen Langer from the USA. She says we do the same things over and over and stop seeing new things.
“Notice new things,” she says. “That’s all you need to do. This is the way to be in the present. It’s the essence of engagement.”
What do you think? Are these ideas useful? Do they refresh happiness thinking?
We accept
