The Good Life - What makes us happy and healthy ...
[7th February 2023]
A profound and insightful article reporting upon the work of Robert Wallinger, exposing what really makes people happy and healthy, based upon an 85 year Havard study of people as they progress through life (the Havard Study of Adult Develoment). When young, we set out in life thinking it involves becoming rich and famous, when we look back we find it's not these things at all ... and find out it's all about being with people we care about and doing things we care about ...
I have included a few extracts from the article below and would recommend reading the article as a whole ... and I would also recommend listening to Robert Wallinger's TED talk too ...
" ... Money – or, rather, economic security – is important. “We are less happy when we struggle for food security and housing and all that, which is obvious,” he says. What is less obvious is that, above a certain income level, happiness doesn’t go up by much, at least according to a 2010 study that set the threshold for US households at $75,000 (£49,000). The enduring factor is relationships with other people. Waldinger has boiled down his definition of a good life to this: “Being engaged in activities I care about with people I care about”...
Waldinger subscribes to the theory that happiness falls into two categories. Hedonic wellbeing can be summed up as “am I having a good time right now?” he says. Then there is the Aristotelian idea of eudaimonic wellbeing: “That sense of life being meaningful and basically good” ...
We don’t necessarily enjoy the things that contribute to eudaimonic wellbeing. The example Waldinger likes to give is having to read the same story to your child at bedtime when you are exhausted after a hard day. “Are you having fun? Is it hedonic wellbeing? No. But is reading that book for the seventh time the most meaningful thing you could do right then? Yes. Often, there’s this difference between what’s fun right now and what we are invested in.” Everyone needs a bit of both, he says. The problems tend to come from chasing only hedonic happiness, rather than the more mundane, but ultimately more meaningful, kind ...
We are also not very good at knowing what will make us happy. It is partly cultural – we receive messages constantly that we will be happy if we buy something, or if we have more money, or if we succeed at work. “There was this really interesting survey where they asked millennials what they thought they were going to need to have a happy life, and fame was a really prevalent goal,” says Waldinger ...
Waldinger is also a Zen master, having discovered the Buddhist practice in his 30s. He leads a weekly Zen group and does his own daily 25-minute meditation. “My wife calls it my great big hobby,” he says. How important is religion or spirituality to happiness? The study has found that religious people are not more or less likely to be happy, but that they find faith a solace in times of stress ...
It is unrealistic to be happy all the time, which sounds obvious, but the message has become that if you are not happy, you are not doing life right. Similarly, there is an idea that happiness is something you can achieve and then relax. “The good life is a complicated life for everybody,” says Waldinger. “We study thousands of lives. Nobody is happy all the time – no one person on the planet that I’ve ever encountered. The myth that you could be happy all the time if you just do all the right things is not true. Happiness waxes and wanes” ...
Happiness “happens” to us, he says (assuming – and it is a big assumption at present – that your basic needs are met). “But there are things we can put in place in our lives that make us more likely to feel happiness more of the time.” Taking care of your health, diet, sleep and exercise are big ones: “If you are in better health, you are more likely to be happy.” But so is taking care of your relationships. “That’s partly because they help us with the flip side: they don’t just make us happy; they also help us weather the unhappy times, the challenges” ... what we find is that if people maintain a network of good relationships, they’re more likely to weather the storms and they’re more likely to be happy” ....
Every generation feels that the world is “going to hell”, he says, “but there are some unique things happening to us”. Economic inequality is rising. “It really matters. We know that collective wellbeing goes up when more people have their needs met.” There is increasing social disconnection. “Loneliness is on the rise, but also tribalism, and that is fuelled by the digital revolution.” The study is starting to ask questions about social media usage and its effect on wellbeing. “Other research is showing that, if we use social media actively to connect with each other, that’s more likely to enhance wellbeing. But if we passively consume, that often lowers our wellbeing.”
... being happy and healthy is all about being with people we care about and doing things we care about” ...
This Foundation is also based upon the work of Aristotle, and focused on creating a world where 'values are valued', where 'good is valued' (Eudaimonia), in a new and meaningful way by introducing Good Points®, a unique measure of a person's 'heart', and based on the good people voluntarily do for others, communities and the environment.
In one of the most inspiring speeches ever made US Admiral William McRaven [Navy Seals] said ...
... "If you want to change the world, measure a person by their heart, not by the size of their flippers" ...
... and we couldn't have put it any better, so we haven't ... and recognise a great inspirational leader ... and for us 'flippers' are a synonym for 'physical ability', 'academic ability', 'wallet'.
Many passionate individuals, groups and organisations, all passionately committed to making the world a better place, are now joining forces and collaborating to make this a reality and to change the world for the better ... and moving into 2023 together they offer a beacon of hope, light and opportinity for humanity ... for individuals, communities and the planet ... and we are starting in schools and by helping young people ... who are our future
David Clift, Founder of the Good Turns Foundation
P.S. In memory of, and wishing happy birthday to, my dear mother Anne Clift, in whose memory this Foundation was set up after having passed away with covid on 3rd February 2021.
© Good Turns Foundation 2023 [GTF07022023_01]
