happiness book

Book Searches for World's Happiest Places

Dancers participate in a ceremony in Thimphu, Bhutan, in this file photo. The tiny kingdom of Bhutan is often compared to the fictional paradise Shangri-la. Author Eric Weiner traveled to Bhutan while writing the book “The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World.” / AP-Yonhap
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

People often search for happiness as if happiness was a destination you can go to. Is there really such a place where people can be truly happy?

In his book ``Geography of Bliss,'' author and National Public Radio correspondent Eric Weiner details his adventures searching for the world's ``happiest places.''

Unlike in the past when he traveled to the world's trouble zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan as part of his job, this time Weiner sought out the places that seem to possess what people think will make them happy: ``money, pleasure, spirituality, family and chocolate.''

So, he traveled to nine countries (10 with the U.S.), including Switzerland, Qatar, Bhutan, Thailand and Iceland, where he interviewed dozens of experts, locals and expatriates.
Even he himself admitted it was a foolhardy idea: ``As the author Eric Hoffer put it `The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.' That's okay, I'm already unhappy. I have nothing to lose.''

His journey started in the Netherlands to meet Ruut Veenhoven, a professor of happiness studies and head of the World Database of Happiness. Veenhoven has conducted a lot of research on happiness, also known as ``subjective well-being'' in academic circles.

Happiness is not exactly easy to pin down, and the research compiled at the World Database of Happiness shows it. Extroverts are happier than introverts. Married people are happier than single people; people with children are happier than childless couples. Wealthy people are happier than poor ones, but only slightly. The list goes on, and Weiner discovers that people have different definitions of happiness, and varying levels of happiness.

In Switzerland, Weiner finds the Swiss are not exactly happy. He sees them as more than content but not exactly joyful. Even if Switzerland is supposed to be one of the happiest places to live in, the suicide rate is still high.

On the other hand, people in Iceland are happy, creative, do not fear failure and seem to be less envious. ``The Swiss suppress envy by hiding things. Icelanders suppress envy by sharing them,'' Weiner said.

Weiner describes the tiny kingdom of Bhutan as the closest thing to Shangri-La, a paradise invented in James Hilton's 1933 book ``Lost Horizon.'' Bhutan, which physically resembles Shangri-La, even has a government policy of ``gross national happiness.''

Karma Ura, head of Bhutan's think-tank, believes happiness is all about low expectations. ``I have achieved happiness because I don't have unrealistic expectations,'' he told Weiner. To find out if more money equals happiness, Weiner went to the wealthy, oil-rich country of Qatar. Despite the Qataris' good life (They pay no taxes. Electricity, health care and education are free. Gas is dirt-cheap.), they are not particularly happy themselves.

In Thailand, he sees that Thai people are too busy being happy to think about happiness. Unlike Americans who constantly think of happiness, Thais are simply just happy without thinking about it.

Weiner also makes a trip to the world's least happy nation, Moldova. He thinks of the law of relative happiness, that ``such a place will boost my mood since I'll realize there are depths of misery to which I have not yet sunk.'' Instead of becoming happier, Weiner finds himself being dragged even further down by the Moldovans' misery.

``Moldovans derive more pleasure from their neighbor's failure than their own success. I can't imagine anything less happy,'' he said, noting how envy is rife in Moldova.

In the U.S., the Declaration of Independence enshrines the right to pursue happiness. Weiner notes that Americans pursue happiness by physically moving to a different place, because they'll be happier elsewhere.

Weiner's quirky sense of humor and dead-on insights will have you laughing aloud in some parts of the book. After going around the world's happiest places, Weiner dishes out what he thinks are the important ingredients for happiness.

``Money matters, but less than we think and not in the way we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. … Our happiness is completely and utterly intertwined with other people: family, friends, neighbors and the woman who you hardly notice who cleans your office,'' he said.

But has Weiner found happiness? He admitted he has happy moments, has learned to let go of anger and envy and finds beauty and joy in simple things. ``I'm not 100 percent happy. … All things considered, that's not so bad,'' he said.

Happiness may not be a destination after all, but just a state of mind.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr