A BRIEF HISTORY OF

HAPPINESS

SO, how blue was your Monday then? Whether the third Monday in January is indeed the most depressing day of the year is debatable (it’s worth remembering that the term was coined by a travel company to sell holidays). But it perhaps raises a good question. How do we combat the blues? Alternatively, how do we make ourselves happy?

We have always wanted to live happily ever after. The 1776 American Declaration of Independence argued that the “pursuit of happiness” is an unalienable American right.

But it’s become something of a hot topic of late. In his new book Can We Be Happier? Evidence and Ethics, Professor Richard Layard, who was appointed the UK’s “happiness tsar” in 2007, argues that we should all pursue what he calls “the Happiness Principle”. To do so, society needs to forgo selfishness and be more altruistic. “This is vital for a happy society,” he writes.

Evidence? In a decades-long study undertaken at Harvard Medical School (started in 1938 during the Great Depression; John F Kennedy, above, was one of the original recruits) tracking the health of then Harvard sophomores, researchers discovered that close relationships were more important than money and fame when it came to people’s sense of wellbeing. It can also have an impact (for the better) on their health.

It’s an idea that has now been adopted at governmental level. New Zealand, Iceland and Scotland are all formally targeting wellbeing as a goal.

Layard argues that quality of life should be held more highly than metrics such as gross domestic product.

In short, you could say, it’s not the holiday you’ve planned that matters, but who you’re taking with you.