'Happy New Year' - but what is happiness?

Happy New Year!

Right. Now, about being happy.

I get paid to read and write (I'm a researcher). I've spent more time researching why people are poor, hungry, dispossessed, homeless, disempowered, depressed, anxious, and in other 'bad' states than why or even if people are happy .

Happily, sustainable development-types are spending more time thinking about this question than they used to, helped no doubt by former King of Bhutan (small country in south east Asia) who is credited with creating the first index of GNH - Gross National Happiness. Trust a non-Westerner to come up with that one. Concerned that material growth would lead to happiness (novel thought, I know), he created an index of 'happiness', measured by access to health care, free time with family, preservation of natural resources, and other quality of life factors. Though quality of life is a pretty minimal condition for happiness.

Having lived and worked with some very materially poor people, I know that money doesn't make you happy. Which isn't to hold up material poverty - sick kids, no doctor, not enough food and cold temperatures with inadequate heating can create pretty unhappy situations. Money can help with happiness. And as most of us on this website know, there's that famous tapper-off-point, where more money doesn't lead to more happiness.

But given that, do we know what really makes us happy? And if we do, do we let ourselves go after it? Do we encourage policies for other countries that will lead to greater happiness - and when we talk about sustainable development, are we really talking about happiness? Should we be discussing sustainable happiness? or Happy Development?

What'll make me happy this new year? Well, a green economy would be good. Knowing that climate change won't kill my younger friends (or me). A climate deal would have been nice. health care that my cousins, who are struggling- poor-Americans could easily afford - that would make my life happier. Most of those things feel out of my control most of the time.

But for me, knowing that I'm working to make those above things real is critical. Doing good work with cool people is pretty essential to my happiness. So is keeping my commitments - especially the ones I make to myself; giving of myself to others freely and without expectation - being of service; having great sex (frequently); Being in nature; Playing my favorite sports (underwater hockey); getting enough sleep. Being kind to myself - which means not doing the 'treats' that aren't really treats (like that extra glass of wine or that extra serving of cream). Joining social-justice movements. Painting. Cleaning (which gives me satisfaction, an important component!) Entertaining. Is this beginning to sound like a new years resolution? It's not meant to be. Happiness is about fulfillment - which can include constructive discontent.

But maybe that's part of why we make (and break?) resolutions - we're not well -practiced at cultivating happiness and doing the things that are good for us - like staying out of wars, paying our international development commitments, making sure our schools are funded. Somewhere along the way as a society we've lost the knack of happiness - which might be why sustainable development remains more of a goal than a reality. Maybe this year, we can learn from our mistakes. And that, my friends, would surely increase our mutual happiness!