Gross Annual Happiness

I recently learned that while the rest of our countries are dogmatic in their pursuit of economic benefit and spend much time, effort and energy in making decisions that impact economic indicators like GDP positively, there are yet others that believe in a more holistic approach to measuring the progress of their people.

Bhutan measures whats called "GNH" or "Gross National Happiness". Although there is no current quantitative measure for GNH - the proposed method of measuring GNH involves monitoring 7 key areas in the day to day life of its people...Economic,Environmental(increase in carbon consumption,traffic),Physical(number of diseases etc), Mental(surge in anti depressants, etc),Workplace(jobless claims),Social (divorce rates, crime rates) and Political.

The plan is to create one indicator that has a weighted average of the 7 individual metrics.

I think its a great idea. Especially in countries like India where the economic surge often happens only at the top of the pyramid while not much comparitive change happens at the bottom. Ofcourse there are those that argue that higher economic growth should eventually result in the other metric's improvement - but thats not always true is it ?

So as I came to terms with this newfound information, I could not help but wonder if I as a person also had a similar myopic view of what constitutued personal happiness. Was there infact a way to measure say Gross Annual Happiness - where I would not just be stuck in a job or in a situation that would attempt to submerge all other feeble attempts of being happy.

Where I would rationally evaluate everything that had transpired over the length of the year - how many times I fell sick, how many times I lost my temper, how many times I behaved in an unbecoming way, how many times I upset someone else around me, how many times I helped others out, how many times I worked out and then come to a conclusion about the current state of affairs in my life in times as strange and wonderful as these.

I dont know how I could actually come up with this measure. But I have not a shred of doubt in my mind that if I did - I would find that contrary to what I thought I felt on most year ends like this one in 2008, where much has been murky and undetermined... I would realise that infact I have much to thank for and much to celebrate about and that if I stopped trying so hard to be happy and paused for just a little bit.. I would realise that I was having a pretty darn good time in a pretty darn good life.

Amen.