Running in your own race is essential

LIVE in the moment, be grateful, stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, set realistic goals and reach them, treasure friends and family, and exercise.

With an ever-increasing body of research into what makes people happy, so are the ways to get there.

In a recent worldwide survey commissioned by the United Nations Conference on Happiness, researchers found that elusive happiness formula to contain the following:

ý Married people almost everywhere said having a spouse and a stable family life makes them happy;

ý While people with money reported being happier than those who didn’t, wealth was not an overriding factor;

ý Low levels of corruption contributed significantly to national happiness;

ý Unemployment makes people unhappy but not just because of loss of income but also because of lowered self-esteem and the loss of workplace social life.

In a workplace survey done in South Africa last year, researchers from iOpener Institute for People and Performance found that South Africans were unusually happy at work. They later commented that due to high levels of unemployment the mere fact of having a job might be what is making people happy.

ý Higher living standards still correspond with increased happiness; and

ý People who live in societies with a higher level of integrity are happy.