HONOLULU, Hawaii- A psychologist by the name of Jeremy Dean wrote an article called “Sustainable Happiness: Why It’s All About the Day-to-Day” on what he refers to as ‘sustainable happiness’. Written in 2007, his work recognizes the way humans prioritize activities and how this affects our level of happiness. Particularly, Dean found that we tend to take steps towards building our future, and in the process, we lose the opportunity to find genuine joy in day-to-day activities.
So what does he mean by ‘sustainable happiness’? Dean does recognize that sometimes we cannot control our level of contentment. Scientific studies have shown that about 50% of our happiness levels cannot be physically altered, as they are a part of our genetic attributes. The other 50%, however, is mostly in our power, which is what Dean uses as the range to reach and maintain high happiness levels.
Within the other 50% of our happiness levels, Dean points out that there are aspects in our lives that are not impossible to change, but still are quite difficult. Specifically, he identifies these factors as the amount of money we have, our level of education, if we live in a poverty-stricken nation, our age, our familial situation and our religion. While some of these factors can and do change for the better (or the worse,) they are often not an instant outcome of change in behavior.
So what is left, and is there anything that we have absolute control over? Dean argues yes, and that these are often the most overlooked tasks or day-to-day occurrences. Dean mentions two psychologists, Sonja Lyubomirsky and Kennon Sheldon, who refer to these activities as ‘intentional activities.’ This term is used to describe the certain activities we choose based on our objectives. These choices alter our happiness levels directly, that is, as long as it is within the range that is not affected by genetics and environmental conditions.
Lybuomirsky and Sheldon talk of three main ways that we choose our ‘intentional activities’ to increase our level of happiness. First, they declare that we do this by finding activities that fit our desires and our personalities. Second, they indicate that we must choose an array of activities with different content to keep us stimulated, and third, we should space out our choices as to fully appreciate activities in the moment.
Dean brings up that people can gain happiness in working towards long-term achievements and not everything is about finding joy in simple activities. Dean leaves off with the message that what we can change easily or our day-to-day choices are what can increase our happiness promptly and sustain it.
Projecting This to a Global Scale
On a global scale, who says that levels of sustainable happiness do not influence or correlate with human progress in developing countries? In fact, Dean’s theories seem to have been contagious, as the United Nations even started incorporating the measurement of happiness and well being into its reports on the status of global development.
On September 9, 2013, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) composed the World Happiness Report. The report is a collaboration of expert opinions in several fields that examines the connection that levels of happiness has with development.
The first World Happiness Report was released just a year prior, in 2012, so this is still a relatively new phenomenon. The initial report was seen as a milestone and gained a lot of attention as the first official report on global happiness. The more recent report explores the topic even further by examining trends in the fluctuation of happiness levels, and correlation this has with environmental and institutional factors. These factors include gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy, availability of support groups, perceived level of freedom to make choices, freedom from corrupt government and overall generosity.
The 2013 report named the happiest nations to be Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands and Sweden. It is no coincidence that these countries are also leaders in education, health care and overall freedom. They are some of the most developed countries in the world, and citizens of these nations tend to live more liberally than other nations. Their high levels of happiness have correlated with other positive side effects, such as longer life expectancy, higher productivity and higher number of completion of education.
Consequently, the report asks that policy makers and governments take the data in the report into careful consideration and make sure to recognize that happiness is a crucial aspect for human development, and can also help to gauge level of progress.
Sustainable Happiness and the World Happiness Report
It is evident that Dean’s theories and the World Happiness Report both target a similar mission of increasing happiness for the greater good of the world. In unifying the report’s approach to global stability and Dean’s beliefs on the key to sustainable happiness, we get a more complete instruction manual for human development. These principles should be fused together as to emphasize the importance of raising individual happiness levels through ‘intentional activities.’
A way to increase happiness on an individual level could be through advocacy groups that work one-on-one with people. Advocacy groups target a number of major issues that plague poverty-stricken nations, such as offering health care, food security, access to clean water, education and much more. While these are crucial to the eradication of global poverty and to raising levels of happiness, maybe we also need to incorporate more simple acts, such as games, toys and entertainment, which would bring immediate joy to those who are suffering.
Random acts of kindness and helping on a first-hand basis to bring joy to those in developing countries would proximately increase happiness levels. In using research from the report and Dean’s findings, increasing joy on the ground will ultimately help to increase overall human development. This means that by helping people and influencing happiness, levels of productivity, completion of education and levels of generosity could all increase drastically.
By helping people in poverty to enjoy the lives they have right now, rather than only waiting for something great to happen, we may actually speed up the process of creating a stable and poverty-free world. While this is not to take away from the importance of organizations that help with the major issues, such as health, food and water, it is more so to add to the list of ways we can help alleviate global poverty and increase happiness.
Sources: Review of General Psychology, Spring, Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Photo: Texas Conflict Coach