Reported By:
| Edited By: Pooja Bhula |Source: DNA |Updated: Jun 18, 2018, 06:14 PM IST
If you want to be happy, be.
– Leo Tolstoy
Advice on happiness generally comes to us from great philosophers, spiritual and world leaders. And like Tolstoy, they tell us the answer lies within. But in recent times, efforts to enable our happiness have been springing from unexpected sections – scientists, corporates, urban planners and even governments.
Happy Cities is the new catch phrase. In 2013, award-winning journalist Charles Montgomery authored Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design. This year, Time Out surveyed 15,000 people from 32 countries for its City Life Index. Forbes too did a world happy cities list through a perception survey that inquired where respondents 'think' they'll be happy rather than where local populations are actually happy. WalletHub ranks American cities' happiness using 28 key indicators (ranging from depression rate to income-growth rate to average daily leisure time), aiming to illustrate that location plays a key role and hence moving to a certain city may make you more content. China Central Television ranks China's happy cities based on governance, economic strength, urban infrastructure and recreational activities.
What seems like a sudden trend, is not really so. A 2012 HBR (Harvard Business Review) issue indicates that the idea began taking shape during the Enlightenment period, when Jeremy Bentham proposed a happiness calculus for any action by looking at the degree of pleasure and pain each causes. Two centuries later, Paul Samuelson attempted to explain welfare economics in purely mathematical terms, but GNP and later GDP won over economists for its ease of computing. Robert Kennedy, though as HBR quotes, was sceptical – "Our gross national product…counts air pollution and cigarette advertising …but doesn't allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play." Developing countries found other flaws, and in the 1980s Amartya Sen began distinguishing between 'commodities' that reflect in GDP and 'capabilities' that don't; the idea eventually led to Sen's Human Development Index that spotlights sustainability and income distribution.
The UN published its first World Happiness Report in 2012, but six year before that Bhutan had already created a pilot index for Gross National Happiness (GNH). The index has eight domains: ecological diversity and resilience, psychological wellbeing, health, time use, education, living standards, good governance, cultural diversity and resilience, and community vitality. Surveying 8,000 plus households, Bhutan publishes the report every four years. We're told, today, 17 out of Bhutan's 40 national goals are based on GNH.
Dasho Karma Ura, President, Centre of Bhutan Studies & GNH finds that several countries are now experimenting with variations of GNH at a sub-national level, led by think tanks and NGOs. And in a novel move, two years ago, Dubai created a Ministry of Happiness. "Dubai is small but dynamic because its Sheikh, besides having power also has good ideas – the emphasis it has laid that public sector/bureaucracy must work with feedback is rare. We'll be joining their coalition of nations committed to happiness. You see, worldwide, governments are starting to see the blind spots of 300 years of capitalism – we're burning earth, inequity is growing and people are unhappy despite all the 'development'. Russia and China too have long been showing interest in GNH," says Ura, an Oxford undergraduate with M.Phil Economics from University of Edinburgh, who was a member of Bhutan's constitution drafting committee.
Closer home Madhya Pradesh was the first Indian state to declare a happiness department in 2016, but experts say not much has been done after. In April, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu conducted India's first 'Happy Cities Summit' in Amravati. Reportedly graced by 80 delegates from 15 countries by the end of which, as per the official website, it culminated into launch of a Think-Do-Enable Lab to make Amaravati one of the happiest cities in the world, six mayors and thought leaders from around the world pledged their commitment to building 'happy cities' and experts studied the world's most forward-thinking and best-planned cities along with Andhra Pradesh's unique needs and developed a socio-economic masterplan.
Most 'Happy City' reports seem to merely aid destination promotion – National Geographic USA has joined the bandwagon too – but what's interesting is how each measures happiness differently. This question of how to measure happiness accurately, given its subjectivity, has been baffling the best minds since before Bentham's happiness calculus.
(L-R: Dubai is the world’s first country to appoint a Happiness Minister; Andhra Pradesh’s new capital, Amravati recently held ‘Happy Cities’ summit to understand and adopt Bhutan’s GNH Index)
The road through governance is not clear, but governments can't impact happiness alone. Every business waking up to it is good news. Years ago, Shanghai Business Chambers invited Ura for discussions, and around 2000 he encountered Chinese entrepreneurs inspired to create an ideal city, or help employees feel better, be better. In 2004, it was also China that attempted Green GDP, which accounts for environmental consequences of growth. China's first report revealed such overwhelming damages, it got suppressed. India's attempts at Green GDP (started in 2009) are gathering dust, and as per HBR, Clinton's ended even before it started.
Noteworthy, is also Brazil's promotion of cooperatives as alternative business models under Solidarity Economy (a distinct approach to sustainable and rights-based development). Unlike India's largely agro-based cooperatives, Brazil and Columbia have prominent ones for waste-pickers, and Rwanda for transport. That they sometimes hire contract workers to meet demands demonstrates their success.
As Bhutan's economy is improving – GDP per capita is $2600 – urban lifestyle is changing rapidly and information flow through trade relations and tourists is transforming beliefs. Ura laments, "The agrarian class just wants a little surplus, few months of leisure, a life of cultural activities, travel and pilgrimage, whereas businesses worldwide want to grow more and more. They see workers merely as means of production, compromising their health, welfare, education, rest, holidays/personal time. They have no relation with local communities and cause great externalities, on nature, and through waste and pollution. Businesses need to absorb more cost to prevent damage."
For these reasons in another laudable move, Bhutan PM Dasho Tshering Tobgay presented the idea of aligning business with GNH at their 6th international conference in 2015, followed by a draft proposal for GNH-based business certification in the 7th. The proposal not only covers Green GDP's ecological concerns, but all eight GNH domains, which are aggregated out of 33 clustered indicators that unpack to 124 variables. "This decomposability is key; it enables deep understanding of individual indicators, which is vital for planning," explains Ura.
From presentations and suggestions – by organisations as diverse as a Sao Paolo private hospital, commerce colleges, Munich's Gross Corporate Happiness Institute that turns sick companies around – at the 7th conference, attended by 26 countries, Michelin's stood out and got incorporated. "Originally, our proposal had an exam-like attitude of pass or fail, but when Michelin presented we realised that's discouraging. With star ratings, businesses can aspire to reach a higher level; after all, the aim is encourage businesses to improve their internal workings, not punish them," shares Ura.
While Bhutan awaits its business community's views on the certification, university professors and B Schools interested in happiness findings are integrating it with modules on new development paradigms. Ura is working with India's Jaipuria Institute of Management (in Lucknow, Jaipur, Noida, Indore) and Kolkata-based Globsyn to shape coursework around it. He says, "Two of Japan's imperial universities, Kyoto and Nagoya, and China's Shandong University and Xi'an Institute of Technology and Architecture are running them too."
This January, Prof. Laurie Santos' course on Science of Well-Being broke enrolment records at Yale. 1,150 students signed-up instead of 100. But like Prof Raj Raghunathan's award-winning class A Life of Happiness and Fulfilment offered at Indian School of Business (ISB) and McCombs School of Business at University of Texas (Austin), it primarily targets personal development.
Using positive psychology and science of behaviour change, Santos' course explores new findings about how to be happier, feel less stressed, avoid procrastination and flourish more. Students review scientifically-validated strategies for harnessing cognitive biases and practice them by building habits through weekly 're-wirements'. "We'll also discuss how to apply them beyond our own lives to make our communities and planet better," adds Santos.
Ura acknowledges that certain courses are committed to social upliftment by exposing future managers to real issues, but worries that "many do it only to create better capitalists. Organisations employ yoga and other destressing methods, but don't tackle structural issues."
Santos created the course "becaushological science has a lot to say about fixing human problems – from big global ones to tiny personal ones; undergraduate students are way more unhappy/stressed out/worried about the future than people realize. And honestly, this course is as much for me – after 20 years of training in psychology, I also fall prey to biases that give rise to poor choices and less happiness." She believes such courses are trending among B Schools "because business schools are generally more applied than typical psychology departments."
Raghunathan's course (based on psychology, neuroscience and behavioural decision theory), and Santos' are available on Coursera too.
Over the last five years, search for 'Happiness' and related books on Amazon.in has increased by close to 150%. Amazon couldn't provide a deeper insight into this surge, but it makes you wonder, are people really so unhappy?
Santos says, "People aren't necessarily less happy nowadays, but predict that they should be happier given all of our modern conveniences. People have nicer cars, bigger houses and better gadgets than they did in the 1950's, so it's shocking for some to realise that happiness hasn't increased accordingly."
Raghav Gupta, director of Coursera (India & APAC), like Ura, relates demand for courses to lifestyle changes and employability, albeit more positively. He says, "With changing dynamics and demanding jobs, people also understand the need for a happier and peaceful life. If people are happier inside, they are more likely to enjoy their work and personal life. Moreover, besides academic qualifications there's a huge demand for soft skills today."
But Crossword that boasts a footprint of 83 bookstores across the country, isn't experiencing a rush for happy books. The bookstore's head, Maulik Desai, says, "In the self-help genre, books that were popular 20 - 40 years ago are still international bestsellers. Few recent ones, like Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, have been successful."
To explain why new happiness books are less popular, Desai gives us an insight into the books business: "It consists of range (core collection) and new arrivals. Internationally, new arrivals form close to 60%, but in India only about 30%. Reading here hasn't evolved, people don't explore new titles and a lot of reading happens through referrals by parents."
Desai says, "For books on happiness, readers look to authors from the East like the Dalai Lama, Rajnish, Sri Sri Ravishankar, etc." Authors like Sadhguru (Inner Engineering, Emotion & Relationship), Deep Trivedi (The Mind) and Oprah (What I know for sure) have also picked up and last year, Rolf Dobeli's The Art of Good Life was Crossword's book of the month. The once-popular Chicken Soup series has lost its glory and Desai believes, "It needs a contemporary series for revival."
But a new, happening series is Happiness Is…that started out as a Facebook page (in 2013) by author-illustrator duo Liza Swerling and Ralph Lazar. "The idea was to ask people what makes them happy, and illustrate it." The page went viral. "In the first year, we'd get 24 requests a day," the couple recalls. The second year, they were invited to publish, and since have brought out eight books in a number of world languages. Their biggest market is USA, but have been picked-up in 10+ countries, and have sold half a million copies.
Their demographicis primarily women, and the biggest age group is 18-32. Ralph (illustrates) and Lisa (designs), yet they say, "It's amazing that what makes people happy is universal. Most requests are about family, especially moms, sisters and romantic love, and simple pleasures and indulgences." And what's happiness for the duo? "Being artists."
