ARE YOU HAPPY AND DON’T KNOW IT?
It doesn’t take much to make us happy, just as it doesn’t take much to make us mad. India’s performance on the pitch is a barometer of the nation’s mood, just as the approving chuckles at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s suggestion of trapping bribe-takers asking for money is another.
Most of us in India are a happy lot, despite having more than one pet peeve, from immovable traffic to runaway inflation, lung-busting pollution, hysterical news anchors and unapologetic politicians. Yet survey after survey tell us that Indians, who on the face of it appear to be the gurus of gripe, are among the happiest people in the world. you are deep down. Adults who flashed the broadest grins in photos through their childhood and college years were five times less likely to be divorced decades later than those who looked less happy, reported journal Motivation and Emotion. So close was the association that divorce could be predicted by the degree to which people smiled.
The happiest people spend 30% less time glued to a TV set, showed a 30-year analysis of nearly 30,000 adults. Unhappy people watched 20% more television than very happy people, found a study reported in the journal Social Indicators Research
Television addicts — and now this applies to people hooked to their PCs, tablets or smartphones too — also spent less time meeting people, reading, or attending social events, all of which are known to improve mood.
Change is a constant and choosing to respond to life instead of reacting to it can work as an upper. Adaptability helps you feel more in control and stay open to new opportunities, leading to work and life satisfaction. Adaptability increases learning, helping people cope with changing situations more easily.
This lowers ennui, which also causes sadness. Unhappy people were also more likely to have unwanted extra time on their hands (51%) compared to very happy people (19%) and to feel rushed for time (35% vs 23%), reported the Social Indicators Research study.
So, what are the things that boost your mood? All surveys show married people are happier than singletons, as are religious people, largely because of the community participation and support it involves. People with friends and family, too, are more likely to be upbeat mentally, as are those who enjoy the work they do and those who commit occasional deeds of altruism.
Compared to the young, older people are more consistently satisfied with their lives. Education and age seems to raise dissatisfaction: Teenagers and 20-somethings are the most likely to take their lives, with suicides in India the highest in the more literate states of Kerala and Sikkim.
Real happiness is not so much about whether you are upbeat or low at the moment, it’s more about how you view the world. It’s something controllable, the controls are in your hands. Happiness is contagious and is likely to cheer up gloomy people around you. Smiles also attract other happy people to you, who are likely to buoy you out of gloom and anxiety when you’re stressed yourself.