{"id":37605,"date":"2023-06-23T19:47:48","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T15:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=37605"},"modified":"2023-06-23T19:47:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T15:47:48","slug":"happiness-can-be-found-in-the-everyday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/happiness-can-be-found-in-the-everyday\/","title":{"rendered":"Happiness can be Found in the Everyday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

I\u2019ve spent years studying happiness \u2013 here\u2019s what actually makes for a happier life\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s one thing to know what makes people happy, but quite another to live a happy life oneself. I didn\u2019t get a true taste of happiness until I quit my decade-long career as a happiness academic, packed all I\u2019d need for many months onto a bicycle, and began meandering my way around the world to Bhutan.<\/span><\/p>\n

For those unfamiliar with Bhutan, it\u2019s a small Himalayan kingdom, famed for basing all its national policy decisions on happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>Pexels\/ajay donga<\/a><\/p>\n

Quite the destination, quite the journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I would learn more about happiness than I did as an academic. That\u2019s not to dismiss knowledge acquired through books and letters. Yet there\u2019s a lot to be said for actually getting direct experience in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below are some of the important things I learned on a journey for happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

For sustained happiness, go deep<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When people talk about happiness some dismiss it as a viable societal goal because happiness policy can be misconstrued as being about people smiling and laughing all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet pleasant as smiling and laughing are, doing them all the time is neither realistic nor desirable. Difficult emotions are a natural part of life. These days I love a cry \u2013 it\u2019s an important release. And anxiety, which I\u2019m prone to, is something I\u2019ll be open and curious about rather than hide from.<\/span><\/p>\n

The kind of happiness I value is deeper \u2013 grounded in connection, purpose and hope, yet has room for sadness and anxiety too. Indeed, it\u2019s this kind of happiness that a country like Bhutan aspires to, and I think more countries (and people) should, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have goals but prepare to let them go<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Goals can be helpful. They give direction in our day-to-day lives. But it\u2019s easy to get wrapped up in attaining an outcome, believing our happiness depends on it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than being in what psychologists call flow \u2013 an immersive, in-the-moment state of being \u2013 we might doggedly push on towards a goal. Even though achieving our goals won\u2019t always bring us happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was cycling to Bhutan, I let go of the idea of ever reaching Bhutan many times, and through doing so I ensured my journey remained purposeful and enjoyable. And, when I did arrive, beautiful as Bhutan was, exhaustion and homesickness dominated. If we\u2019re not happy along the way, then we ought to question whether it\u2019s worth going at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be misled by stories<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There are many stories about what a happy life entails, but they\u2019re not always backed up by reliable evidence. An example would be the \u201cwhen I achieve this, I will be happy\u201d story described above. Another popular story is that money buys happiness. I spent much of my research career examining this (and travelling humbly for 18 months).<\/span><\/p>\n

What is clear is that having more money (beyond the point of meeting basic needs) is inconsequential when compared with having good quality relationships, looking after our mental and physical health, and living meaningfully in line with our beliefs and values. Yet, sadly, these things often get sacrificed in pursuit of more.<\/span><\/p>\n

These stories persist because they support an economic system that is designed to increase GDP rather than improve the wellbeing of people and the planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Allow others to give<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Warm and loving relationships are essential for living a happy life. Yet that doesn\u2019t mean these are easy to come by.<\/span><\/p>\n

As an academic, I saw how important relationships were for happiness in the data. But like many, I had a difficult time realising them in my own life. We\u2019re not taught that way and often think people will only love us when we meet certain criteria, rather than unconditionally for who we are.<\/span><\/p>\n

What shocked me most on my cycle journey was people\u2019s kindness and generosity. People would invite me into their lives, offering me food or a place to stay, even when they owned little. When I set off, I was either suspicious of this generosity or racing too quickly onwards to consider stopping. But with time, I learned to let people in, and this led to deeper connections and more happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can get through a crisis<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t have been able to reach Bhutan on a bicycle without facing a crisis or two. We will all face a crisis at some point. We might lick our wounds and get back in the saddle, but to find our way through a crisis psychologically, we need support from others. We also need to give ourselves time to make sense of what has happened and to ensure we move forward purposefully. These are all essential for resilience, and what helped me on my journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t beat the million-star hotel<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing beats lying under the stars after a full day\u2019s cycle through the mountains. Humans are of nature, yet we spend so much of our time indoors in built-up, often contrived, social spaces that do not meet fundamental needs. Nature is essential for our wellbeing \u2013 not just to feel calm and peaceful in the moment, but to sustain human life for generations to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christopher Boyce,<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Honorary Research Associate
\nat the Behavioural Science Centre,
\nUniversity of Stirling<\/p>\n

\n

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 23 June 2023<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve spent years studying happiness \u2013 here\u2019s what actually makes for a happier life\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":37606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[27539,38795,1544,5891,14905,32905,34347,32907],"class_list":["post-37605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellness","tag-bhutan","tag-cycling","tag-economy","tag-happiness","tag-happiness-index","tag-happy","tag-quarter-life","tag-world-happiness-index"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/happiness.jpg?fit=1200%2C654&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-9Mx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}