How Happy Are You?

A couple weeks ago I attended the Happiness Initiative Forum in Santa Cruz. This was a gathering of people to hear more about the topic of Happiness, what it means, how we measure it, etc. I’m over-simplifying now, but basically it has to do with the idea that Happiness or Wellness or whatever we call it, could be a better way to measure the sustainability of a country or community than the GNP – the way a place’s quality of living is currently measured. Activist leaders and authors John de Graaf (Affluenza) and Cecile Andrews (Circle of Simplicity) were the leaders of this discussion. To read more about this movement go to: http://www.happycounts.org/. There’s a survey that gives you a look at your happiness level in different areas of your life. To access it directly, click here.

I found the evening and discussion extremely interesting. The topic of what makes us happy is something I’m always exploring with myself and with clients. Happy can sometimes seem like a hard thing to pin down. What does it feel like exactly? Is it fleeting or does it stick around a while? When are you happiest? How do you know?
 

I know that for me Happiness feels more like the culmination of other sensations & emotions that I experience – joy, contentment, harmony, peace, expansiveness, for example. And it’s not the absence of conflict, necessarily, but knowing that I’m connected enough with myself and that I have the tools I need to handle the conflict.

 
I invite you to explore your own happiness this week. Perhaps start by taking the survey on the happycounts website. Or perhaps use your own internal scale – your own Happiness Scale (there’s a blog post on internal scales here if you aren’t sure what I’m talking about). Whatever feels best for you is the perfect (and happiest!) place to start.

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