Is happiness the next big ideaIJ This is the question that may be cropping up in the minds of many as happiness has suddenly changed a hypothetical construct to be realised cognitively to a tangible product to be bought and sold. Ever since the then king of Bhutan gave the concept of Happiness Index, everywhere models to create or maybe manufacture happiness are being developed. We now have the World Happiness Report, Gross National Happiness and even courses on happiness! These are the times of commerce, and anything and everything can be made a commodity. Well, there is nothing wrong in that. While marketers are still debating whether we are creating a buyer’s market or living in the seller’s market, the fact is that they both in a way complement each other. Sellers push their products to buyers in a seller’s market. Whereas in buyers’ market, buyers believe that whatever they want is being sold by the sellers. But in both cases, it is the buyers who get to buy and the sellers who sell. Either way, it is buyers who pay or sellers who earn. Coming back to the happiness business, it was in 2012 when the first World Happiness Report was released. It aimed to outline the state of world happiness, causes of happiness and misery, and policy implications that were highlighted through case studies. The reports are now published every year taking data from the field of economics, psychology, social survey and statistics, and suggest how the measures of well-being can be used to increase happiness. A host of indices are used to measure happiness. But the basic question is — what is happiness and how can it be achievedIJ The simplest definition of happiness is that it is a state of mind, a feeling of pleasure, a mood or a sense of feel good. The question how it can be achieved is the tricky part. Every person will experience happiness emanating from different sources. For the child it would be his pebbles that he has so meticulously placed under his pillow and even one missing pebble can make him unhappy. As he grows, he keeps changing his concept of happiness as the perceived value of his happiness changes. The same principle applies to all. Moreover, happiness remains a temporary and transient state that can be felt only in contrast to sadness. Coming to nations, the gross national happiness will be the sum total of the perceived happiness of the proportion of the population. However, there is a catch. What about those who are not experiencing happiness even if the gross happiness of the nation is highIJ Difficult to explain. But as the current year’s account books rate Norway as the happiest country in the world followed by Denmark, we are left clueless as to what will be the fate of countries like those in the sub-Saharan region. And of course, our own country where poverty and misery co-exist with wealth and prosperity. Particularly, when India has been ranked at a lowly 122, behind China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Iraq, and Sri lanka. It may be recalled that the World Happiness Report rated 155 countries by their happiness. Happiness is best left to individual experience and the one key to happiness is the attitude restructuring as suggested in the Bhagavad Gita. There is a need to understand that nothing in life is as trivial as to be neglected nor serious as to be worried about.
The writer is a professor of management and public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com