Money
- Thirty-seven percent of the people on Forbes' list of Wealthiest Americans are less happy than the average American
- Starbucks regulars are 2 percent happier than McDonald’s regulars
- 23 percent of those whose household income is below $20,000 said they were happy
- Half of those earning at least $150,000 a year describe themselves as very happy
- 57% of people who have worked at company for more than 15 years said they were happy
- 14% of people who have only worked for a company for 5 years or less said they were happy
- General and administrative jobs have the highest amount of happiness, with 64% saying they were happy
- Sales and marketing and executive leadership only 7% said they were happy
- People with incomes over 75,000 are the most happy with 38% saying they are happy
- Richer workers tend to be happier than poorer colleagues
- Happy people tend to have greater potential to become rich
- Education and intelligence do not make you more happy than anyone else
- Estimates suggest that the increase in salary needed to compensate in happiness for not being in a close relationship was £50,000
- Winners of the lottery's life satisfaction was not significantly greater a year after winning
- Economic stability has a large effect on the happiness of society, while long-term economic growth has little. Unemployment reduces happiness by as much as bereavement
Global Happiness
Lifestyle
Theories/Science
How to become happy
- 94% of people in iceland said they were happy (Happiness Net)
- 91% of people in Denmark, sweden and Netherlands said they were happy (Happiness Net)
- 90% of people in australia said they were happy (Happiness Net)
- United Kingdom is the 9th happiest country in the world with 87% of the population saying they are happy (Happiness Net)
- 4% of Slovakia said they were happy (Happiness Net)
- Only 2% of Russia said they were happy (Happiness Net)
- 55% of Venezuela said they were very happy
- 45% of Nigeria said they were very happy
- 42% of Iceland said they were very happy
- Estonia, Slovakia, Moldova and Lithuania also have low amounts of very happy people within only 4% of their population saying they are very happy
- Latvia has the least amount of very happy people with only 3% of the population saying they were very happy
- Bulgaria has the highest amount of unhappy people with 62% of people saying they are not very or not at all happy
- 56% of Moldova also said they are not very or not all happy
- 54% of Belarus said they are not very or not all happy
- African-Americans are 8 percent happier than white American
- Americans are 200 percent happier than those living in Cameroon's
- Forty percent of the African-American say they are happy
- The City of London is the happiest place in Britain with With an approval rating of 92.4%
- In the USA clinical depression is 3-10 times more common today than two generations ago
Lifestyle
- Starbucks regulars are 2 percent happier than McDonald’s regulars
- If you're a stay-at-home mom, there's a 36 percent chance that you're very happy
- Married people are 19 percent happier than unmarried people
- 43 percent of married people describe themselves as very happy
- 24 percent of single people say they are happy
- Grateful people are 25 percent happier than ingrates
- If your sibling who lives within a mile of you becomes happy, your chance of being happy increases by 14 percent
- Thirty one percent of people "who prefer to have a Starbucks in their community describe themselves as very happy
- 29 percent of those who would rather have a McDonald's in their neighbourhood describe themselves as happy
- Forty three percent of those attending services weekly or more call themselves very happy
- 'Serious talkers' are 39% happy (those who discuss politics, education, religion)
- 'Light talkers' are 32% happy ( those who discuss tv, entertainment, gossip and sport)
- Genes and upbringing influence about 50% of the variation in our personal happiness
- Our circumstances (income and environment) affect only about 10 percent of our happiness level
- 40% is of our happiness is accounted for by our outlook and activities, including our relationships, friendships and jobs, our engagement in the community and our involvement in sports and hobbies
- Immigrants tend to acquire the happiness characteristics of the nation to which they move, not the nation from which they were born
- Children who hugged and cuddled more while growing up are more likely to be happy when they reach 40 than those who didn't
- The happiest people are those who are living and working what they are passionate about irrelevant of financial return or compensation
- The book, 'In praise of Slow' suggest the idea that by slowing down we can enjoy richer, fuller lives
- Religion has a positive effect on wellbeing
Theories/Science
- Barbara Fredrickson from the University of Michigan claims that positive emotions have a grand purpose in evolution. Positive emotional mind sets widen our range of thoughts and actions, fostering play, exploration and creativity. We become open to new ideas and new experiences.
- Psychologists have found it useful to distinguish between a hedonic and a eudemonic state. A hedonic state is a transitory state of pleasure, while a eudemonic state is one associated with ongoing wellbeing
- Applications of coping strategies (learned behaviors) can increase a person's level of happiness. How do coping strategies improve a person's mood? Again, successfully coping with a challenge increases the amount of norepinephrine released in the brain. For instance, aerobic exercise (which is used as a coping strategy by many persons) can actually stimulate the output of norepinephrine by as much as four and one half times normal
- Social scientists measure happiness simply by asking people how happy they are
- High concentrations of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine leads to feelings of elation and euphoria
- Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion
- individuals can be “trained” to be twenty-five percent happier through various training programs in from two to ten weeks
- Smiling releases endorphins and makes us feel better. Even “faking” a smile can lead to feeling happier
- Chocolate is associated with the release of serotonin, the hormone that makes you feel relaxed, calm, and happy
- Empathy is a part of our nature. If a friend suffers an electric shock, it hurts in exactly the same point of the brain as if you yourself suffer an electric shock
- Thomas Jefferson asserted that "the care of human life and happiness… is the only legitimate objective of good government"
- In the mid-18th century, the Scottish philosopher Frances Hutcheson was the first to describe the best society as the one that had "the greatest happiness of the greatest number"
- Self-reported happiness correlates well with measurements of bodily functioning, such as blood pressure, heart rate and immune system responses
- When we want something and then attain it, we don’t seem to be any better off. They called this the hedonic treadmill, It’s like we are walking on a treadmill but not really getting anywhere because we are adapting to things
- The left side is the activated when people are feeling happy and that the balance of activity between right and left moves as mood changes
- Emotions last only a few seconds. If you've ever been stuck in a bad mood for days on end, this might sound unlikely. But the reality is that each emotion we experience lasts only a few seconds
- If you do 20 minutes of exercise, three days per week for six months, your general feeling of happiness will improve by 10-20%.
- When people get married their happiness peaks, but after a while their happiness returns to the level it was before they got married
- Having 100-200 belly laughs a day is the equivalent of a high impact workout, burning off up to 500 calories
- Among the things that make people happy are sport, music and - most of all dancing
- Several studies have shown that a pet can promote health and happiness
- Broadly speaking you would need to receive a windfall of more than £1 million to transform you from an unhappy person to a happy person and even then the effect is often temporary
- People in steady relationships are generally happier than singles
- Children who hugged and cuddled more while growing up are more likely to be happy when they reach 40 than those who didn't
- The most powerful way to increase your short-term feelings of happiness is to perform random acts of kindness to others
- The most powerful way to increase your long-term feelings of happiness is to understand your strengths and talents, or life purpose, and to work on sharing those parts of yourself with others
- Do at least one thing per day completely will improve happiness
- Every night, reflect on the things that went well that day
- Happiness breeds more happiness
- The happiest people are those who are living and working what they are passionate about irrelevant of financial return or compensation
- Estimates suggest that the increase in salary needed to compensate in happiness for not being in a close relationship was £50,000
- The book, 'In praise of Slow' suggest the idea that by slowing down we can enjoy richer, fuller lives
- Keep learning new things
- Be happy with who you are
- Connect with people
- Take care of your body
- Take a positive approach
- Religion has a positive effect on wellbeing
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