We learn that life is not easy. Some people might seem to be living unhappy lives, but hardly anyone would choose to live an unhappy life. Everyone wants to live a good and happy life.

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Can we ever define what a good and happy life should be for others?

Some people seriously believe than we can define happiness for others.

Methods of Measuring Happiness

Does happiness come from health, money, beauty, fame, recognition, job satisfaction?

The ancient Greeks had the concept of eudaemonia, translated as happiness. Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson and countless others have talked about this concept of happiness.

Professor Martin Seligman, director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania is a great modern expert on this topic.

In 1972, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, the former King of Bhutan formulated the concept of “Gross National Happiness” to quantify how happiness can be measured and how the happiness of the people should be goal of the state rather than gross national production.

Israeli born Emeritus professor and Nobel laureate, Daniel Kahneman studies Hedonic psychology to understand what are feelings of pleasure and pain, of interest and boredom, of joy and sorrow, and of satisfaction and dissatisfaction from the biological to the societal dimensions, that cause suffering and enjoyment?

Another method is to measure the Economic Wellness, Environmental Wellness, Physical Wellness, Mental Wellness, Workplace Wellness, Social Wellness, Political Wellness of a people as developed by Med Yones, the President of International Institute of Management.

Significantly, the spiritual dimension is absent from this scale. We can encounter soulful, generous and happy people in countries at the bottom of the list. Meeting them makes you happy instantly. Strangely, we may even run into many grumpy, aggressive, and selfish people, on or off psychiatric medication, in countries at the top of the list, who often leave you unhappier.

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It is very easy to give advice to others. Usually advice comes from our own realities, our own understanding and our own needs.

Important Questions

One day a Sophist came to a sage of Miletus, in ancient Greece and asked some questions.
The Sophists were a group of fifth-century B.C. Greek philosophers very skilled in elaborate and devious argumentation. His purpose was to show that he knew more than the sage. Some of the questions asked by the sophist are still relevant to us.

What is the quickest of all things?
    Thought, because in an instant it can reach the expanse of the universe.
What is the strongest of all things?
    Necessity, because it makes us face all the dangers of life.
What is the greatest of all things?
    Space, because it contains all that has been created.
What is the most constant of all things?
    Hope, because it still remains even after you have lost everything else.
What is the most difficult of all things?
    To know yourself!
What is the easiest of all things?
    To give advice!