Image: Getty Images
In Brief
Joy to the World
The Gallup World Poll, which includes a psychological assessment of people in 155 countries, shows that nations vary enormously in how happy their citizens are.
Scientists have linked happiness with so-called social capital, which includes measures of public trust and cooperation. National pride can also improve your quality of life.
People in some cultures rate their life satisfaction according to how well they live up to social norms; citizens elsewhere base their judgment on how good they are feeling.
More In This Article
-
Overview
How Happy are You? Take the Quiz
Lankasana, a 23-year-old Maasai warrior, sports long, ochre-stained, braided hair extensions and carries a bow and arrow, a short sword and a steel-tipped spear. He spends his days raiding neighboring villages and protecting his own tribe from attacks by wild animals. For fun, he wrestles fellow tribesmen and practices his aim by tossing spears at tree trunks. Lankasana once killed a lion armed with only a sword, but not before the lion clawed his shoulders, leaving huge scars.
Living in remote villages in East Africa, the Maasai build simple homes out of mud, dung and sticks. These hunter-gatherers have no running water or electricity and minimal exposure to Western society and media. They engage in rituals that may seem unappealing to Westerners, such as adolescent circumcision, branding and bovine blood drinking.
This article was originally published with the title The Many Faces of Happiness.
Rights & Permissions
See what we're tweeting about
9 Comments
Add CommentThis is such an interesting idea and article! I cannot wait to read more!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDisagreeing on the part about S Korea. We have way more than enough universities. It's the Korean media depiction of "success and happiness" and consequently the K-12 education system that are severely distorted because it discourages (frowns upon) students from stepping outside the classroom occasionally to discover what they truly love to do. True, S Korean high school students are extremely hard working, only to become (multiple-choice) exam-destroying machines that they hope to put them in "top-tier" universities, so their parents can brag about them. This results in a pathological inflation of credentials and >90% of the numerous S Korean universities providing substandard education, just to give/prolong false happiness of being *enrolled* in *a* college at the ages 18-21. Their earlier efforts to secure a college student status could have been put into becoming better people doing meaningful work to improve the planet. Thanks to this early "become a -士/-師 or die" brainwashing that has trampled millions of achievers-could-have-been.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe French Have a better word : Joie de vivre! (pardon the spelling) The joy of living.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have spent half a lifetime seeking happiness and it's overrated. What I assume will make me happy rarely does. It only leaves me longing for the next "thing" (relationship, job, car, money, house....) But true joy comes from living well, being of service, being OK with whatever comes along.
Even Pain and suffering are things not to be avoided at all cost, but to be understood as opportunities for growth and learning. A joyful life is one that can apprehend every shade of the spectrum, one that is not afraid to feel every emotion on the feeling wheel.
Happiness is quick and ephemeral; it is something I may possess for a time. Joy is something I live. It's here for the long haul.
What an interesting (and well written) article! It made me appreciate anew how many ways 'happiness' can be defined. Given that being happy is usually a life goal, this article is a good reminder that, while we are all heavily influenced but the culture around us, we do have choices. It is important to think about what happiness really means for oneself, and then to take the actions, and mindset changes, that can make happiness come true. I liked this article so much I read it through twice!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI to have discovered the hollowness residing in the pursuit of happiness and have begun to trade it for abiding joy. Time spent producing something real is far better than "fun" distraction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVery good article!Shows the importance of a genuine goal and direction in life.Also materialism is not the true way to happiness which people tend to think and get carried away with.Simplicity and high thinking are the way!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHappiness is vague term.How can we measure happiness?There is no fix Carter for happiness.In one moment I am happy next moment I may unhappy.Happiness depend on out circumstances.If weather is bad I am unhappy if got train in right time I am happy.I think man must create in his life joy.Creating joy is in our hand we don't want outside help.If I go to tracking and doing my best I fulfill my aim at that moment I create joy in my life. Pure joy and self-satisfaction is highest achievement.This is only man`s destiny.Try life long how I can get pure joy and self-satisfaction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, @bucketofsquid, if you're saying that it's the participation or the doing of an actual physical task, project, group effort, I fully agree!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSomeone once said that there's no wasted (physical) effort. I wonder how many people, knowing that, would dump their TVs and physically engage with the world.
Wow, what an opener about "happiness." After reading, "They engage in rituals that may seem unappealing to Westerners, such as adolescent circumcision, branding and bovine blood drinking", I'm dying to hear the punchline to the secret of this Maasai warrior's happiness.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this