Understanding Happiness
The first ‘International day of Zero Waste’ was observed on March 30 this year. About time, as large parts of the world have used up the resources available to them for 2023, in the first quarter of the year (www.Earthovershootday.org ). This indicates exploitative use of resources per capita — most of which is wasted. Interestingly, most Scandinavian countries are in the list of finishing the year’s resources by March 31, while being the flagbearers of Sustainability initiatives. Hinting that the grid can be entirely renewable, mobility fully electric and so on but if consumption (and thereby production) continues at this pace, the planet is going to collapse all the same.
But lets take a step back to understand how did we land up here.
“Money cannot buy you happiness” is too facile a statement to be taken seriously. However, Alfred Marshall’s diminishing marginal utility of stock (each additional unit providing lesser satisfaction), coupled with Daniel Kahneman’s finding that beyond a certain income, happiness levels off and plateaus, are worth looking at, as we try to reign in run-away mindless consumerism. So if Life Satisfaction or Well-being or Happiness can be achieved at certain income points, then is striving for anything beyond that, simply following a system we’ve forgotten to challenge? Easterlin’s Paradox, which shows that increase in GDP impacts happiness positively in the short-term, while in the long-run, it does not have a significant correlation with happiness, is another theory that challenges the need to keep producing-consuming-wasting to keep GDP numbers high (https://g.co/kgs/QtzvnJ ). Indeed, economists have been looking beyond GDP, especially since 2008.
Bhutan is a shining example of ‘looking beyond GDP’. One can see its Gross National Happiness framework at work, when one visits the country (https://worldhappiness.report/) . Sangye and Norbu above, were our guides on our 10 day Bhutan trip. Both had studied and worked in India, Middle and Far East — in countries with much higher per-capita incomes than their tiny mountain kingdom. But they came right back to their families and are now happy guides, who proudly show tourists the Bhutan they love. This is them singing their National Anthem, with tears rolling down their eyes (and ours).
“Not middle-age cholesterol levels, but relationships and how satisfied they were in their relationships in their 50s, were better predictor of health in their 80s” said Robert Waldinger, Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest research study on health and happiness (https://www.adultdevelopmentstudy.org/ ). The study presents data that shows loneliness damages the mind and body as much as smoking and alcoholism. Feeling a sense of belonging to a community, long-lasting meaningful relationships appear to be higher contributors to happiness, and thereby health, than money or material possessions.
20 year old study of regions where a higher than average percentage of people live up to the age of 100, brings out similar results as the Harvard study (https://www.bluezones.com/ ). These regions, called Blue Zones, are spread across continents and different economic zones and none particularly ‘rich’ — Ikaria Greece, Sardinia Italy, Okinawa Japan, Nicoya Costa Rica and an Adventist colony in California. Strong social relationships are common across all these regions. While healthy eating is critical, eating with a group of friends or family, seems to be equally important for living long and happy lives. None of the respondents in the study, mention possession of wealth or things that money can buy, to be a reason for their happiness.
There are many books and research papers on Happiness, Health and what leads to them. All of them focus on relationships and an increasing number talk about the impact of meditation, forms of which can vary, on health and happiness. But I speak from a place of privilege. It is very easy for me to sit in judgement at those who experience joy, however short-lived, at a material acquisition, because I have never lacked anything. Going back to Maslow’s hierarchy, I know that basic needs of food, shelter and security have to be met, before we even have this discussion. Ability to exercise choices, not constrained by lack of money, has to be available. But beyond that, to fall for the trap of increasing income to increase consumption to increase income, is simply the inability to zoom in on what is important — for us and our children.
