How will you celebrate World Happiness Day?

I am not sure what makes me happy: the weekend, a tub of ice cream or the day my pay gets credited in the bank.

It doesn’t matter if the weekend passes fast doing mundane household chores, only because I can look forward to it again soon, or if the French vanilla ice cream lasts only for a while, just like my paycheque. These are happy moments, even though very brief.

For some people like my wife, it takes very little to make them happy. For her, happiness is a late breakfast of steamed rice cakes and crisp doughnuts dunked in spicy lentil soup, on a Friday morning at a vegetarian restaurant, followed by a stainless steel glass of sweet, south-Indian coffee with froth on top.

The other day a friend of mine found himself celebrating a windfall, a large sum of money which came out of the blue. After the initial euphoria and after buying things he always wanted but couldn’t afford, the money in his bank’s current account dwindled and within a short time was gone.

Happiness is ephemeral, it is very elusive, but when it does touches people, it comes in various forms and is very difficult to measure.

According to psychologists and sociologists, happiness is having enough money to do what you wish and to buy what you want, whether it’s a 48-inch smart TV or a nice home.

Happiness also means being healthy and to be able to worship according to your choosing, speaking your mind and feeling safe in your own home.

I bring up this very happy subject because in a couple of days we will be marking World Happiness Day on March 20 across the globe, and the UN wants us all to join in the fun.

According to the UN resolution which was passed by consensus in the 193-member assembly, “The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal.” It has designated a special day for happiness, finally realising that countries should take care of their people’s social and environmental well-being as well.

It was because of Bhutan’s initiative that we mark the day of happiness each year.

The people in this tiny Himalayan kingdom are said to be among the happiest in the world. This tiny nation was also behind a new way of measuring prosperity — the Gross National Happiness Index (GNH).

Holistic approach

Unlike the Gross National Product, which calculates the value of a country’s total worth of production and services by citizens at home or abroad, over a year, the GNH takes a more holistic approach where the spiritual well being of the citizens and communities is given more importance.

This Shangri-La-like kingdom believes that a nation cannot be prosperous if it does not conserve its natural environment or take care of the well-being of its people.

There are a couple of countries that are among the happiest, according to a massive survey done by an advocacy group. Luxembourg is said to be the healthiest, Iceland the safest, while Norway is the happiest, and Switzerland has the world’s best economy and governance.

I am not sure how I am going to mark the Happiness Day, maybe go and buy that raffle ticket which will maybe win me a million dirhams. My son doesn’t understand why I would want more money or another car. He rightly thinks that money is good only for ordering take-aways or that new video game, and we already have a car that shuttles our weekly groceries.

A study has shown that while income generates happiness, it also notes that achieving our psychological and social needs are harder to achieve with a pay cheque and that we can learn a thing or two from Bhutan in today’s stressful world.