Attracting Abundance

The Law

Two Doors to Success

Happiness - V

"Happiness is not something that is ready made.
It comes from your own actions"

                                            ..... Dalai Lama

Two understandings of happiness are useful to be aware of. Happiness can be affective and/or evaluative. Affective happiness is the presence of positive feelings like pleasure, joy and relatedness, and the absence of negative ones like pain, sorrow, and anxiety. Affective happiness is momentary, composed of fleeting emotions and feelings and is linked to hedonic happiness. A human being normally gets addicted to affective or hedonic happiness. when you buy a new car, it gives you great pleasure; you will swipe it clean every day and even a light scratch on the car hurts you. As you get used to the car, happiness erodes, swiping frequency becomes lower and lower and a few scratches here and a few dents there are shrugged off.

Happiness can be evaluative, which refers to a positive judgement one formulates on own life. Evaluative happiness is linked to eudaimonism and is more stable, less prone to adaptations.

I had mentioned earlier that the fallout of modern times in terms of pollution, waste generation etc. has become a major source of stress and unhappiness. Does it mean that for "greener" living we need to compromise on the standards and comfort of the modern day? The dilemma stems from the misleading belief that quality of life entirely depends on economic growth and that personal well being is raised through consumption and material abundance. Research shows that beyond a threshold limit, additional wealth actually fails to improve individual and collective well being. (Frey Bruno, 2008, Happiness: a revolution in economics). Scientific work is helping us to realize that happiness is not necessarily something one can attain through more material affluence and consumption. 

"Thus occupied by many egoistic ideas, deluded, addicted to the gratification of desire (doing works, but doing them wrongly, acting mightily, but for themselves, for desire, for enjoyment, not for God in themselves and God in man), they fall into the unclean hell of their own evil." 

... Bhagvat Gita

Working towards de-linking happiness from consumption has the potential to lead to happier and more sustainable happiness in individual and community life. As such the goal is to advance well being as well as enhance quality of life.

One of the indicators of happy people, who also lead a life of well being and advanced consumerism and industrialization, is the affinity of such people to waste management. Advanced and happy people are good at managing their waste. happier people are more likely to behave sustainably, and therefore, to manage their waste than less happy people. In recent years happiness research has extended its reach from looking in to the causes of happiness to the effects of happiness. (Harvard Business Review, 2012, The Value of Happiness). The interest in this area has grown by leaps and bounds as more and more evidence comes up on the positive impact of happiness on the productivity of an indivdual which ultimately reflects in the bottom line of organizations. (Oswal et al, 2009, Happiness and Productivity). Evidence also supports that happiness has a profound impact on health. Positive emotions are among the spiritual antecedents that promote sustainable behavior. 

"Happiness, one of the most positive emotions .....

seems also related to a decreased consumption of resources..."

..Victore Verduga, 2012, The Positive Psychology of Sustainability

Sustainable behaviors such as waste prevention may be conducive to happiness. So happiness may be a consequence of waste prevention and not the cause of waste prevention. 

Relationships are also emerging between people who live simpler lives and their happiness or life satisfaction. A study done on 14 cities in China reveals that individuals who display sustainable motivations and pattern of consumption directed at reducing at reducing waste and saving energy score higher on life satisfaction than individuals who are not or mildly engaged in "green" behavior. Studies also reveal that producing less waste has positive effect on both life and domain satisfaction. ( Gandelman et al, 2012, Neighborhood Determination of Quality of Life, Journal of Happiness Studies, 13, P 547-563). A study about the small holding movement in Canada showed that individuals derived high satisfaction from these simple things (including low consumption and waste production) because it increased their feeling of self-reliance. (Brinkenhoff et al, 1984, Social Indicators Research, 14-2, 177-194). 

As per evolutionary scientists, our brains are hard wired to produce a sense of pleasure and well-being when we engage in activities that ensure the survival of the individual and the specis - for instance eating and having sex. (Gringe, 2002, Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 331-354). We are also rewarded in our sense of happiness and wee-being when we help others.. Engaging in actions that that facilitate individual and collective survival, which is the basis of waste prevention, trigger that mechanism and provide a boost in mood.

Benefits of "green" behavior do not stop at positive feelings and satisfaction. they also seem to imply eudaimonic rewards - an experience of flourishing - in the form of an increased sense of independence and control over one's life.

We will see the other drivers for happiness from a community point of view in our subsequent posts.

Namaste

Prabir