Thank you for reading and for your comment, Mary. There certainly seems to be something about the way our societies work that funnels us away from the kind of happiness you describe.
Thank you for fresh information on a topic close to my heart. I live in Canada, where basic health care is available to all at no cost. Mental health is woefully underfunded. The need is particularly urgent for young adults, who are increasingly prone to depression. Suicide is second only to accidents as a cause of death among the young. In one of the richest countries in the world, this is simply unacceptable. Where mental health suffers, society will suffer.
Hi Diana. Apologies for not responding to this question. Lily went away to research an answer, and then we were hit by the Substack's bizarre decision to treat her comments as spam, which prevented her from commenting (I can't get Substack to respond to this and it's still unresolved).
Anyway, here's what she found: "If you look at the map of Life Satisfaction (for example, https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-cantril-ladder) you'll see that countries with war or crises (e.g. Afghanistan, Sudan) have substantially lower life satisfaction scores compared to their neighbours. Note: the data is from 2011-2022 and more recent conflicts are not captured."
If I could find a way to pivot from my current profession into something like studying how to improve well-being globally, that would be monumentally cool.
I didn't know about The International Day of Happiness or about Lily's work. I quote one of her comments to explain how Important all that you and she cover here Is: “Happiness is not about reaching your goals. It’s about aligning your goals with your values.” When I did exactly this, though I didn't have these words to describe the decision, I left a well-paying, successful corporate job, adjusted my income (and my expectations from that income) from much to none and began to write full-time. That move changed my life, gave me hope and made me believe in courage.
I'm with Lily and Mary on that. And one engages life daily toward those goals, with those values. One small example, Jeffrey, is what you demonstrate in your previous post, engaging art and mythology and history, and writing about them all, in dialogue with each other and you internally -- broadening, with pleasure, one's understanding of the world. And all by breakfast!
A fascinating article and interview. The alignment of goals and values does strike me as an important component of happiness. As I get older, I see how critical it is to live with purpose and intention. I believe our economic system denies people the ability to create meaning for themselves. We weren’t put on this earth to live in misery, yet so many do. Thank you for sharing this, Jeffrey.
First of all, love the Grant and Jefferson quotes. I want to use them in my next newsletter. Don't worry, will link to here.
Secondly, I'm glad to see that the money=happiness myth is continually being debunked. Many of my teenage students wrote essays on this topic recently and chose money over happiness because it's MONEY -- and if social media has taught us anything, it's that "having it all" looks fantastic on our screens.
And finally, as tech and all the issues that come with it is on my mind these days, I hope to see well-being and happiness come out ahead in this race against having technology in every aspect of our lives. In fact, I'm certain that less digital time must equal more breathing time. Anything to substantiate this?
Very interesting. Measuring ‘happiness’ is so much deeper than it initially sounds. It is really a measure of wellbeing in so many areas of someone’s life.
What a gorgeous post, Jeffrey! I like this approach - we need a multifaceted look at the matrix of societies to create ones that are conductive to well being.
Thank you for sharing this, I didn't know that there was firm research in this area and am delighted to find out about it. I do think that the rise of capitalism has led to anything other than money as an improver of lives has been neglected. I see little sign of that changing, but this post gives me some hope.
A really fascinating discussion. I am still not quite sure what “happiness” means to me personally, but I do know that mental health is a huge issue in our country and similarly in many developing countries. Our Health Minister is doing an islandwide “mental health tour” of schools mostly to talk to young people, find out what they are most troubled by, and just chat. He is also setting up “Wellness Benches” on strategic spots, where people - hospital patients, students etc - can just sit and “chill out.”
Hello Lily: Thanks for your response! I will definitely look at the Friendship Bench, how interesting - and I will share with the Minister. In Jamaica we also have an expression: "Draw long bench and palav." Which really means sit down together and chat - about anything. Which is really what friends do!
Thank you, Emma! I'm impressed by the attitude of your minister. In the UK, it's not as clear that government is really interested in helping people with mental health issues: https://www.bigissue.com/news/politics/mel-stride-dwp-mental-health-culture-backlash/
Thank you for reading and for your comment, Mary. There certainly seems to be something about the way our societies work that funnels us away from the kind of happiness you describe.
Thank you for fresh information on a topic close to my heart. I live in Canada, where basic health care is available to all at no cost. Mental health is woefully underfunded. The need is particularly urgent for young adults, who are increasingly prone to depression. Suicide is second only to accidents as a cause of death among the young. In one of the richest countries in the world, this is simply unacceptable. Where mental health suffers, society will suffer.
Thank you, Rona. The UK also has free healthcare for all, and has a similar lack of provision when it comes to mental health.
What a lovely purpose -- increasing the happiness and wellbeing for all.
I wonder about the impact on happiness of geopolitical events like wars, genocides, etc. They seem to cause a lot of people a lot of stress.
Thank you, Diana. That's a very good question. I don’t know if there is any research into that. I'll leave it to Lily to comment, if she's able.
Hi Diana. Apologies for not responding to this question. Lily went away to research an answer, and then we were hit by the Substack's bizarre decision to treat her comments as spam, which prevented her from commenting (I can't get Substack to respond to this and it's still unresolved).
Anyway, here's what she found: "If you look at the map of Life Satisfaction (for example, https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-cantril-ladder) you'll see that countries with war or crises (e.g. Afghanistan, Sudan) have substantially lower life satisfaction scores compared to their neighbours. Note: the data is from 2011-2022 and more recent conflicts are not captured."
If I could find a way to pivot from my current profession into something like studying how to improve well-being globally, that would be monumentally cool.
Yes, work like that must create a certain sense of purpose!
I didn't know about The International Day of Happiness or about Lily's work. I quote one of her comments to explain how Important all that you and she cover here Is: “Happiness is not about reaching your goals. It’s about aligning your goals with your values.” When I did exactly this, though I didn't have these words to describe the decision, I left a well-paying, successful corporate job, adjusted my income (and my expectations from that income) from much to none and began to write full-time. That move changed my life, gave me hope and made me believe in courage.
I'm with Lily and Mary on that. And one engages life daily toward those goals, with those values. One small example, Jeffrey, is what you demonstrate in your previous post, engaging art and mythology and history, and writing about them all, in dialogue with each other and you internally -- broadening, with pleasure, one's understanding of the world. And all by breakfast!
No kidding. Jeffrey, like you, is a find!
A fascinating article and interview. The alignment of goals and values does strike me as an important component of happiness. As I get older, I see how critical it is to live with purpose and intention. I believe our economic system denies people the ability to create meaning for themselves. We weren’t put on this earth to live in misery, yet so many do. Thank you for sharing this, Jeffrey.
First of all, love the Grant and Jefferson quotes. I want to use them in my next newsletter. Don't worry, will link to here.
Secondly, I'm glad to see that the money=happiness myth is continually being debunked. Many of my teenage students wrote essays on this topic recently and chose money over happiness because it's MONEY -- and if social media has taught us anything, it's that "having it all" looks fantastic on our screens.
And finally, as tech and all the issues that come with it is on my mind these days, I hope to see well-being and happiness come out ahead in this race against having technology in every aspect of our lives. In fact, I'm certain that less digital time must equal more breathing time. Anything to substantiate this?
Really interesting, Jeffrey - I found that conclusion about psychotherapy vs. cash transfers really compelling. Thanks for spotlighting Lily's work!
Thanks, Troy. That aspect of the work done by Lily and her colleagues stood out for me, too
Very interesting. Measuring ‘happiness’ is so much deeper than it initially sounds. It is really a measure of wellbeing in so many areas of someone’s life.
What a gorgeous post, Jeffrey! I like this approach - we need a multifaceted look at the matrix of societies to create ones that are conductive to well being.
Thank you, Kate, and I think you are right. I'm glad that organisations like the HLI are researching, advocating, and funding in this space.
A wonderful interview, promoting a truly noble cause. Bravo :)
Thank you, Michael!
Why is it that some words have lost meaning? Philanthropy is one of those… this is what this piece made me think of.
Thank you for sharing this, I didn't know that there was firm research in this area and am delighted to find out about it. I do think that the rise of capitalism has led to anything other than money as an improver of lives has been neglected. I see little sign of that changing, but this post gives me some hope.
A really fascinating discussion. I am still not quite sure what “happiness” means to me personally, but I do know that mental health is a huge issue in our country and similarly in many developing countries. Our Health Minister is doing an islandwide “mental health tour” of schools mostly to talk to young people, find out what they are most troubled by, and just chat. He is also setting up “Wellness Benches” on strategic spots, where people - hospital patients, students etc - can just sit and “chill out.”
Hello Lily: Thanks for your response! I will definitely look at the Friendship Bench, how interesting - and I will share with the Minister. In Jamaica we also have an expression: "Draw long bench and palav." Which really means sit down together and chat - about anything. Which is really what friends do!
We all need a bit more matisse in our lives
We do!!