More on happiness

Some time ago I wrote about the Happiness Tsar, and my second list on health and wellbeing reminded of him, because the list comes from the BBC who did a large-scale experiment on increasing the happiness and emotional wellbeing of a whole town. They also developed a happiness manifesto from which the following steps are taken:

1. Get physical - exercise for half an hour three times a week
2. Count your blessings - at the end of each day, reflect on at least five things you're grateful for.
3. Talk time - have an hour-long uninterrupted conversation with your partner or closest friend each week.
4. Plant something - even if it's a window box or pot plant. Keep it alive!
5. Cut your TV viewing in half.
6. Smile at and/or say hello to a stranger - at least once a day.
7. Phone a friend - make contact with at least one friend or relation you have not been in contact with for a while and arrange to meet up.
8. Have a good laugh at least once a day.
9. Every day make sure you give yourself a treat - take time to really enjoy this.
10. Daily kindness - do an extra good turn for someone each day.

My only quibble with some of these is that they assume a certain lifestyle already - it may not be possible for some people to treat themselves each day; nor might having a good laugh be a possibility. That aside, it isn't a bad list.

In the photo, Regina Spektor reacts to the welcome given her by the fans at the opening of her set.

Heaven/Earth

We need to do away with any literal picture of eternal life as an irrelevant existence in a remote place. The images of harps and wings may symbolically suggest the happiness of heavenly life, but they do not set the actual scene. Although heaven is currently separated from this world, this arrangement is temporary and we must learn to distinguish between heaven now and heaven forever.... On the new earth, heaven and earth will be knit together again, as they were in the beginning.

Nathan L.K. Bierma
Bringing Heaven Down to Earth

And all I can say to this is, Amen! And check out the positive reviews for this book on Amazon. (This isn't an advertisment by the way...LOL)

Against Happiness

Once a Protestant church was a place where one would grow to understand his severe optical limitations in comparison with the infinite vision of a ubiquitous deity, a God whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere. Now, at least in my eyes, the numerous churches devoted to Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and the like are basically happiness companies, corporations that focus on how one can achieve blessedness while living in this world. In the pews and pulpits, contrition has turned trite, and contentment has become the given. The blessed gaze of those striding from the aisles to the vestibule is inspiring to behold. The firm farewell handshake between the minister and his parishioner is a sacred seal, a bond: stay happy until next week, for God has planned for you to prosper, if only you will pray over your repasts and tithe your earnings.

...we are beginning to see that this American quest for happiness at any cost is not merely a pastime, an occasional undertaking. We are starting to realize that this push for earthly bliss is at the core of the American soul.

from Against Happiness, by Eric G Wilson, pp 19-21, Sarah Crichton Books, 2008

The Happiness Tsar

Gill Corkindale writes that 'the British Government has decided that happiness is of great importance to the nation and has appointed economist Richard Layard our first "Happiness Tsar." His mission is to build some positive thinking into the workforce from childhood, so children will develop into more resilient adults. In his book, Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, he writes: "There is a creative spark in each of us, and if it finds no outlet, we feel half dead. This can literally be true: among British civil servants, those who do the most routine work experience the most rapid clogging of arteries."'

Richard Layard always thought that the ultimate aim of public policy is to make people happier. In recent years he has been actively involved in the new science of happiness.

Mental illness is probably the single greatest threat to a happy life, and for this reason Richard Layard is currently leading a campaign to provide within the British National Health Service evidence-based psychological therapy for people with clinical depression and chronic anxiety disorder. The Depression Report, published in July 2006, is the manifesto for this campaign.

Finally, Richard Layard is also active in other happiness promoting policies, such as the emotional aspects of children's education, and initiatives by local authorities to monitor and improve the happiness of the population in their area.

Virtuality again

The discussion continues....

Is virtual (on the Internet) church really church? The issue is troubling a number of people, including Bob Hyatt, who's written in the first blog post of two or more that: The problem, in my mind, with virtual community and internet campuses isn’t that it’s not church... it’s that it is just church enough to be dangerous. Because it has all the easiest and most instantly gratifying parts of community without the harder parts, it ends up misshaping us.

On one hand, there's certainly truth in the fact that face to face stuff with other Christians is an essential part of being in the Body of Christ, but on the other, the fact that people are tuning into some form of church when they might not otherwise attend seems to me a plus rather than a minus.

It all depends on what we think church is. The gathering together of a group of Christians on a Sunday is only part of what Church is, and for many, while it gives them a chance to worship corporately, to hear preaching, to pass the time of day with a few fellow Christians, and maybe get to know a stranger or two, it's a fairly small window in the week. It's what's done outside of that Sunday morning experience that constitutes the rest of church - often the non-Sunday part is the bulk of church for some Christians.

Getting some people to tune into the radio, or TV, or the Internet are all ways of making sure people hear the Word preached. They may also sing along (as the Praise Be series obviously expected people to do) if there's the opportunity. For some people this may be all the church they'll know, and while it may seem fairly low-key to outside viewers, it's vastly superior to no experience of church at all.

If we are to participate in church in the whole sense then obviously we have to do more than attend Sunday services. But I'm not sure that those who just attend Sunday services are really any different to those who attend via the Internet or some older form of media.

Apropos of this, I just came across a blog post by Mark Pierson (who, along with Mike Riddell, is/was one of the pioneers in alternative worship in NZ):

What is there for someone in my situation when I go to church? 30 minutes of sung worship that will pop me out of how I feel and into something “better”? A sermon giving me another 3 things to add to the hundreds I have collected over the last few years in order to better be a follower of Jesus? A stream of people asking me how I am but not waiting long enough for me to tell them? Why do “worship leaders” nearly always expect that a good outcome in worship is to have everyone happy, “up” and talking to those around them? Eric Wilson in his wonderful book, “Against Happiness” suggests that “the predominant form of American happiness breeds blandness.” That may explain why so much worship is so bland.

Happiness is as happiness does

According to the latest UMR survey, the happiest men in the country are in the Nelson/Marlborough region, and the happiest women come from the Bay of Plenty. Wellingtonians, however, are the least happy people in the country.

Interestingly, people on less than $20,000 a year are slightly happier than those earning between $70,000 and $100,00. People earning over $100,000 are the happiest of the lot. People in the middle income brackets ($30-70,000), however, are the least happy. (Which probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise: they'll be the ones trying to bring up a family, pay off a mortgage and so on.)

Wellington.Scoop reports: The key things that make people happy are their relationships with their family and friends and their job. For women, the relationship with their family and children is a far more significant factor in their happiness than it is for men. However, for men their relationship with their spouse or partner, control over their life or destiny, recreation time and hobbies are more important than they are for women.

UMR finds that people are less happy than they were when the previous survey was done in 2007/8, and that overall, females are happier than males. People in mid-life are less happy than the young or old (which is hardly a revelation - who has all the responsibility?!), and ethnically, Maori and Europeans were the happiest groups, with Asians the least happy. (However, with a large number of people classifying themselves as 'other,' ethnically, this area of the survey is somewhat skewed.)

Another not-surprising point: widow(ers) and married people were happier than single and divorced, though there might be a certain irony in the fact that widowers were little happier than widows, and married women were a little happier than married men. Curiously women in de facto relationships were happier than men in the same boat. Which seems almost at odds with how people in these relationships are generally viewed.

People living without children are happier than those living with children. At first this seems a point that doesn't bode well for our future, until you realise that it's the lack of dependent children that makes people happier.

And just to prove that we're a quirky lot: Labour voters are happier than National voters. Go figure.

UMR comes to this conclusion: If you want to keep happy through the recession – socialise, keep in close touch with family or friends, have an interest in sports, a hobby or the arts and feel good about yourself.

Where would we fit in, as a Church, on the happiness scale?

Photo by Jill Greenseth from 'Four Happy People'