Such a wonderful blog here, so much to explore!

I wanted to comment that the nation of Bhutan has happiness as its measure of GDP (gross domestic product.) They believe that happiness is the most important thing to produce ~ and to measure. So it is a very high value.

Their culture is based predominantly on Buddhism, which also values happiness (as opposed to the pursuit of transient pleasures). Of course Buddhism teaches many ways to achieve happiness ~ and although the Tibetan people have been about as oppressed as any group of people you can name (except perhaps for some of the African peoples who have also suffered genocidal wars), they remain steadfastly cheerful as a result of their practices.

There must be something to that!

And what a different world we would be living in, if every nation were to value happiness of their people above all else. And what if we were to bring this about in our lifetimes?

Just a thought. . .

Many blessings,

Nancy

Great article and I particularly like points 3 and 5. Flow is an awesome book. One of my personal favorites.

Even the elation of an achievement is very short lived. The greatest pleasure experience always comes from the doing rather than the reaching.

The one addition I might personally add to that list is the act of gratitude. I might go as far to say replace point 2 with focussing on the what we’re grateful for as that in itself can be a very powerful process.

Amit