Personal Happiness

Happiness beings and starts at the personal level. If we were all really happy –meaning wellbeing was something we all enjoyed; quality of life was high enough for all of us; and sustainability – a holistic definition of sustainability – was in effect – we would not be doing the damage we do to our environment, society, economy and personal lives.

Today I finished “phase one” of personal happiness on the website. It took a while, but for each domain there are ideas that people can take to enhance their happiness. If everyone did each thing, we still would not have a sustainable world, equitable quality of life, wellbeing for all. Furthermore, neither myself nor the people I work with are experts in personal happiness. So, in a way, this work is for naught. But then, something has to be done.

The plan is to now take the personal action ideas to our advisory committee and continue to develop them. At the same time, develop educational resources for each domain-preferably in the form of short vids outlining the substantial educational resources we already have and develop partnerships with organizations that have expertise so people have a reliable go-to for each domain.

Over 16,000 people have taken the happiness initiative survey, and this without a concerted effort to get people to take it. We hope many more take it in the next year. And when people take it, feedback we regularly get is “what next?”

So today, I put the first foot forward to answer that question. All that said, the most important thing I keep in mind, is that people inherently know how to be happy We just have to clear away all the confusion.

Laura Musikanski. ED of HI