The Responsibility Project^®. Exploring what it means to do the right thing

Mandatory Happiness

55 Comments

July 30, 2009 by Kathy McManus

The search for happiness is back.

Increasingly chronicled in newspapers, blogs, books and TV, finding your bliss is finding its way once again into our conversations and our consciousness.

“Many of us think we have a responsibility to be happy, but that’s insane,” says Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World. “It’s why we Americans suffer from what’s called ‘the unhappiness of not being happy.’”

Nonetheless, mountains have been trekked, wisdom imparted, and the source of our current distress identified: “Greed. Insatiable human greed.”

That anti-Gordon Gekko echo comes from the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where the Prime Minister has declared greed to be the cause of the current global economic meltdown, and by extension, our great global unhappiness. “We need to think Gross National Happiness,” insists the Prime Minister.

Gross National Happiness is the Bhutanese government’s official alternative to what it considers the “broken promise” of Gross National Product, the traditional measure of a country’s economic output and worth.

Last year, Bhutan adopted a new Constitution centered on Gross National Happiness, with agriculture, transportation, and foreign trade programs now being judged not by their economic benefits, but by the happiness they produce.

“Essentially, I agree with the Bhutanese Prime Minister,” says Eric Weiner, who visited Bhutan to learn about GNH first-hand. “But I think that the source of our unhappiness is expectations. Greed fulfilled makes us ‘happy’ for awhile, but when our expectations are no longer met, we’re miserable.”

That same sentiment was also expressed by the actor Michael J. Fox, who traveled to Bhutan for his TV special, “Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.” Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease 18 years ago, Fox was intrigued by Gross National Happiness, and offered his own take on personal happiness: “Your happiness grows in direct proportion to your acceptance, and in inverse proportion to your expectations.”

Tell us what you think: Do we have a responsibility to be happy? Is human greed really the cause of our discontent? Would an official policy of Gross National Happiness work in the U.S.?

55 Comments

What do you think? Leave a comment

• August 4, 2009 by Scott Joy

  I don't believe we have a responsibility to *be* happy, but I do believe we are, in large part, responsible for whether we *are* happy. Only we can control our attitude, our actions, and our reactions.

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  • August 17, 2009 by Brent Rogers

    Scott, I couldn't agree more with you.

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  • September 22, 2009 by lizzy crenshaw

    i agree with him how can we be happy with things when there are people strving and losing there houses and family by greed of the worlds money i am young but i know what happiness is and this isn't it!!!

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  • September 13, 2010 by Codi Griffiths

    but what is happiness for us to be, and how can we know when we are to assist this statement?

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• August 8, 2009 by Rosa

  Hi, thanks for the opportunity, Of course happiness and the lack of it is solely our responsability due to the fact that when u accept life but have hopes and good faith, everything falls into place. Even a past choice can bring u unhappines today but again with acceptance & faith u got it all.

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• August 9, 2009 by Sharon Chisholm

  I think that the only responsibility we have to be happy is that which we have to ourselves. I owe it to myself to be happy - life is too short to be anything but. Despite what we watch on the news and read in the press, the world is full of good people, people who truly want to make a difference to the lives of others. We have it within our inner power to experience the world in all its beauty, in all its glory and we can choose to live a life of happiness or a life of misery. I know what I choose!!

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• August 11, 2009 by Jacob Sevier

  Happiness comes with trust and faith, faith beyond knowing, but living. All things always work out for the good, but can you believe this? Can you have faith in this? Do you know This? If you do or if you can you see that everything is perfect, and your happiness will never be snuffed out.

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• August 12, 2009 by Laura Davids

  i think alot of people try and fill the void in there lives with superficial and temporary solutions. we seek fulfillment in needing despirately to be wanted and loved by the oposite sex, in which case we are more focused on having them lust after us than actually evaluating if they even make you happy. this often leads to people staying in unhealthy relationships, stuck in the mind set ' if he can just see how good i am to him he'll love me, then i will be happy). NOT TRUE!!! Relying on others for your own happiness will never work. we will only get self fullfillment and true happiness when we give purpose to our lives and do something worthwhile. And for this we are 100% responsible for our happiness!

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• August 12, 2009 by kv

  all of us, no matter what we are doing, are acting (or not acting) because we think that action will bring us happiness. we want the things we want because we think they'll make us happy. if the pursuit of happiness is the root cause of our life's entire activities, surely we have already assumed the responsibility for it? if you equate happiness with getting what you want, you limit your ability to be happy. if happiness was in the house/husband/promotion/child/respect, that thing would bring the same amount of happiness to everyone. happiness is the feeling within of total satisfaction, a state of wanting nothing more. it is contained within you. we have the power to change what makes us happy because we set our own goals and have the ability to reflect back on our own thoughts and actions. you can decide the circumstances that bring about your own happiness. the responsibility for your happiness is therefore entirely your own.

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• September 2, 2009 by zawadi makongoro

  Happiness Iam very happy to here your coment. If you will send to me more of them by using my E-mail addres it will be good.

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• September 3, 2009 by William Needham

  While I'm in general agreement with sentments expressed, no one has defined "Happiness". I suggest it to be a term relevant to the individual's current sate of mind, but having little to sustain it unless it is based on solid spiritual values. So where then does one start? Christ promised forgiveness but that is conditional on our forgiving "those that trespass against us". Remember, this is the starting point. We must deliberately and consciously forgive otheres, then we earn God's forgiveness. But we must not forget to forgive ourselves! Once completed, we have perfect freedom, but with responsibility. We will have obliterated all the baggage and self-hate we have carried around for years, and can now find our place in God's plan for us. With anxiety and doubt gone, we can enjoy the happiness that true freedom brings.

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• September 10, 2009 by Oliver Twist

  bvcbvc

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• September 10, 2009 by Janice Brown

  Happiness is not only something that you feel but that which you share. Being content, having a positive attitude and living life according to the Golden Rule: "Treat others as you expect to be treated" is the foundation to finding and sharing happiness. Therefore, it is within anyone's reach and is definitely 100% an individual's responsibility.

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• September 20, 2009 by Jay Monsef

  Happiness has solely to do with the state of our mind/thoughts. whether one can control the thought or not, that is a key to establishing happiness for ourselves. But it is easier to say than done. Thoughts are like one is in the middle of the ocean on an small boat and the waves constantly shakes him/her to right, left, back and fort, up and down. How one can be expected to sit still and straight without any shaking? you see how difficult it seems to be? That is why mumanity as a whole has problem with it (our thoughts). Gens, upbringing, society, you name it, all has an effect on our thoughts. If one get his/het thoughts under control, then, only then one can see sign of true happiness. That is my view, I welcom yours!

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• September 27, 2009 by David Ruch

  Unhappiness is the state we experience when we make the decision to let temporary dissapointment cause us to give up our dreams. We have lost the ability to be steadfast and diligent in the pursuit of our dreams. While attachment to anything not realized can create unhappy feelings it the giving up and the unwillingness to do our work in relationship to all that is going around us that defeats. With instand stars from reality TV and lottery winners every week we have a tendency to want something for nothing. If we could learn from the faith of a farmer in relationship to the land we would see that you must do the work first in faith before the blessing and happiness comes. Happiness is only true happiness when you know you have cooperated with life. Find you life passion, get some feedback that you are on target and never give up your persuit regardless of the many temporary failures. Find the joy in doing what you know you are to be doing and stop measuring your happiness based on short term wins and losses.

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