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Are you happy? Most people will say yes, while it might be a question to some. A personal feeling of pleasure is the accepted definition of happiness in Western cultures, in Eastern cultures it means social harmony, and in some parts of Africa and India, it includes sharing experiences and family.
We all want happiness and being cheerful. But what makes us happy varies from country to country from culture to culture. Obviously, some peoples are happier the other. Let us find out the truth.
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Can happiness be measured? The World Happiness report by the United Nations gives the answer, which measures the ’subjective well-being’ of population in a country.
Then, which country is the happinest country on earth? The answer is Norway. The World Happiness Report has been published for 5 years, and nordic countries have consistently dominated the top spots. People living there love nature, with lower desire for material things, and less affected by consumerism. These people fancy minimalist lifestyle.
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An author and journalist, Hellen Russell, has been looking at the topic for some years, and she focused on the characteristics of the population of a country. She has been tried to figure out what kind of idea it is, that promotes happiness.
She talked about the subject of happiness on BBC program. Millennials and older people tend to get happiness more often, she said. According to her research, she found that Japan is one of the happiest countries around the world.
A traditional Japanese belief of embracing wabi-sabi plays an important role in it. It means we should happily accept imperfections and celebrate them.
In Japan, when a pot is broken, workers would like to gild the scars with pure gold rather than chucking it away. Instead of covering it up, they highlight the imperfections and accept them. That is a positive attitude that helps us deal with difficult situations.
It is a helpful idea, especially for women. There is a beauty in aging, no need of being ashamed of it. Instead of disguising wrinkles and laughter lines, people show them naturally and peacefully.
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Hellen Russell is a British, so she also studied the characteristics of her own population. ’Jolly hockey sticks’ is a humorous phrase in England which refers to up-class school girls’ annoying enthusiasm.
After some in-depth research, she said it is a sense that can be found in their comedies, in the way they approach the life, but not has been thought about deliberately. They just keep on doing routine things, like go for a dog walk and eat a normal British breakfast even feeling bad.
Hellen Russell suggests that being jolly can be used as a coping mechanism to fight against miserable days and difficult situations. Go through life, no complaints.
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In sum, according to Hellen Russell’s finding, Japan is one of the happiest countries in the world due to Japanese culture believing wabi-sabi which means that they embrace imperfections and celebrate imperfections.
And also, British people is a humorous and sarcastic population in some way, once in difficulty, they will get on with life and no complaining. A population with a relatively positive characteristics could help go through bad days, but not feeling down in the dumps. They are much happier.
