As the Thai Buddhist master Ajahn Chan observed, people "have been born as human beings. It should be possible to live with happy minds". (Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away. Boston: Shambhala, 2005).
Given that humans are programmed to seek happiness (using it as a motivational device and enjoying the pleasures of food and sex), why is it so hard to find? Some experts suggest that people are looking for happiness too much inside and not enough outside, to the world around them.
Nurturing Positive Forces Within
There is no question that human beings can learn to train their feelings, to reduce negativity and improve personal happiness. For example, Buddhist meditation teaches detachment, so that one can observe an emotion such as anger and not let it dominate. The mystic traditions in Christianity, Judaeism and Islam also include valuable spirit-focused practices.
Various approaches from psychology have been adapted by people looking for happiness. There is a large literature and many self-help books on challenging negative thoughts and positive goal-setting. Sports and performing arts gurus have popularised the idea of the "flow". Ken Hodge in his book Sport Motivation (Auckland: Reed Books, 2004) describes this as "an emotionally enjoyable experience that occurs when there is a perceived balance between your competencies and the demands of the task".
No Man Is an Island
And yet, despite all these approaches to self-actualising and finding inner balance, many people do not consider themselves to to be happy.
In his book Happiness: Lessons from a New Science (New York: Penguin Press, 2005), Richard Layard acknowledges the importance of tapping into the "deep positive part of oneself", not comparing one's situation to others, and being satisfied ("continuous reoptimisation is the real enemy of happiness"). He also observes that there is some genetic influence, although it is hard to determine how much because "many genetic effects are only triggered by bad situations, and vice-versa".
What Layard emphasises in his happiness research, however, is the implication of people being "deeply social beings". Using measurements of happiness obtained from survey research and medical science (such as measurements of electrical activity in the brain), he stresses the importance of family, community and work relationships, the level of trust between people and issues such as stability and safety from violence.
Layard argues for working towards a happy society, while observing that "society is not likely to become happier unless people agree that this is what we want to happen". Inspired by 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham, he proposes that rules and rights be created enshrining sympathy to others and fairness, and an approach decided on what to do if the rules conflict.
Layard considers that enough is known about how to nurture happiness and reduce misery that positive action can be taken by governments and communities. Specific implications of the approach are considered in the linked Suite 101 articles, Public Economics and Social Harmony, and Twelve Steps Towards Happiness.
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