On the news we endlessly hear about economics-- economic growth, economic rationalism, GDP, GNP, growing your wealth, investments, stockmarket, providing for the future, and so on endlessly. If today's media are to be believed, the economy is the only important thing in life, and if we all go out and buy more and more and more stuff, and get richer and richer, we'll all be deliriously happy all of the time.
Yet, are we really happier for all this economic success? We're constantly reminded we live complex, busy and stressed lives, as though this is a given and a natural, inevitable condition of life today, whether we like it or not.
Well, it isn't.
Personally, I think countries should follow the lead of Bhutan, which measures its Gross National Happiness instead of its Gross National Product, and which tests policies to predict their effects on the happiness index, before they decide to adopt them. (See the offshoot of Buthan's GNH at: International Happiness.org)
To see how your country rates on the happiness index, go to: Happiness Index comparisons, and look at the rankings. It's intriguing, for example, that people in the richest country on Earth, the US, consider themselves less happy than people in countries like Columbia, Guatemala, Mexico or Ghana.
And why are people in Malta happier than people in France, Germany, the US or Italy? Clearly, there's more to happiness than money and economic growth.
It's not possible for me to convince the leaders of my country that they're taking us the wrong way, or to convince them to adopt the GNH index. I can try, but basically, they're not listening, and are so obsessed with economic growth that they are blind to other possibilities. But I can change myself, and can decide to measure my success or failure by a personal happiness index, rather than by my wealth and possessions.
For me, this is one of the main reasons for the decision to live more simply. It raises my personal Happiness Index (HI). I feel happier not chasing after an endless stream of products I don't really want or need; I feel happier with less clutter around me; and I'm happier because I know a simpler life is good for the environment. Living simply is more ethical, and more sustainable than excessive, mindless consumption, and it allows a more equitable sharing of Earth's resources.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Lin Edwards's Living Simply topic, please visit the Discussions page.