Measuring happiness

I love to travel. It's as simple as that. And I have found a new place that fascinates me, and that I will one day visit. There is a teeny tiny country in Asia, between India and China, called Bhutan. This country is one of the least impacted by the West that I have heard of, and seems to me a place of refuge.

In Bhutan, the focus of the government is not on money, or exports of Gross National Product, but on happiness.

They base their decision making on the Gross National Happiness of the people, not on how rich or poor they are. This seems silly, because how can they make people happy without turning a profit? But, as it turns out, happiness is not about how many things you own (difficult to believe, I know), but about appreciation and enjoyment of life.

The focus of the governement of Bhutan is on self-reliance, preservation and promotion of the environment and the Bhutan culture and good democratic governance.

It makes sense to me that policy decisions should be made based upon the feelings of wellbeing among the people, and I feel that Western society could learn a lot from Bhutan's systems. But is this level of change possible in our society? We are very stuck in our ways.

From the Creative Visions module that I looked at last term, I read about a lot of pessimistic thoughts about our future, and in doing so came up with a few ideas of how it could be made better.

I am not exempt from the Western materialism. But as far as I can see, the economy is getting worse and worse, and what might happen should it collapse? I don't believe that we are so selfish and animalistic to fall into a man-vs-man scenario. Maybe we should start trading in kindness? You do a good deed, you gain reward points, and that way you build yourself a life.

Whatever happens, it is important to remember that nothing feels as good as contenment.