Today is International Happiness Day (press release). The goal is one million people celebrating happiness today.

Positive Psychology News Daily recently ran this article which talks about one of the more useful theories to come out of psychology, Wrzesniewski's ways to think about work.  It's very intuitive and almost too obviously true, but it's a distinction that can have real meaning for a person to consciously think about.  Perhaps you really want a calling and all you have is a career?  Some people might go their whole lives without thinking about it. My only comment on this article, which places her research in the context of meaning, would be to place work and meaning in the context of psychological needs as described by Deci & Ryan in Self Determination Theory.  Meaning is only one need that one can get from a job (ie. a job might give you relationships and make you feel competent) and one can get meaning from other sources in one's life as well ( ie.  your job lets you take care of your family).

During working years, life satisfaction can be affected by the level of meaning people find in their work. Amy Wrzesniewski (2003) describes three different work orientations that affect disposition to find meaningfulness in work.

• Job: Work as source of material benefits that enable other parts of life. Major satisfaction comes from hobbies and relationships outside work. The meaning of work is primarily what it contributes to outside domains of life.
• Career: Work as a source of advancement, prestige, and status. People with a career calling often have a willingness to make sacrifices for work advancement that others would not make.
• Calling: Work as an end in itself with a belief that it contributes to the greater good. A garbage collector who sees the work as making the world a cleaner, healthier place could have a Calling orientation. People with this orientation tend to experience more meaning from working.

In surveys, people are remarkably unambiguous about their work orientation. All three orientations are found at all levels in a given hierarchy.

From July 1^st to July 4^th, the 4^th European Conference on Positive Psychology was held in Opatija, Croatia and ravi and jane will be reporting on their experiences from the conference over the next few weeks. In addition, we will be inviting people from the conference to report on their research first hand, offering cash incentives of $25, $50, and $100, depending on the quality of their reports.An updated list of links to conference related reports is below.

- Movie Presentation: What is your happiness?

- Randy Larsen’s talk on Positive and Negative Affect

- Thriving Through Inner Conflict Workshop

- The Power of the Present Moment

- Happiness with Reality Therapy 

Positive Psychology News Daily recently ran this article recommending the Happiness Hypothesis, which happens to be one of our favorite happiness related books as well.  I find the metaphor of the elephant and the rider useful as well, though for different reasons as this author.  Specifically, I find that it's useful to be aware that our minds are like trainable animals that we can only control indirectly.

If you have not read it, I highly recommend Jonathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis. One of Haidt’s metaphors, more thoroughly explained in the book, is the very accessible image of the rider (conscious reasoning self) and the elephant (automatic and unconscious self).

Below is an interesting article from Greater Good Magazine on a new study that will appear in Perspectives on Psychological Science.  The results mirror previous cross-national studies of happiness.

A new study run by the University of Michigan, called the Happiness Index, will appear in the July 2008 issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science. It produced results remarkably similar to an another cross-national comparison by the University of Leicester’s Adrian G. White, which was drawn from a meta-analysis called the Happy Planet Index.

The Social Democratic countries of Northern Europe are shockingly happy (especially given that their weather is often lousy), with Denmark leading the way in the new study. The most miserable countries are hot and politically unstable–this year, troubled Zimbabwe sat at the bottom of the list. Given previous results, no surprises there. The big surprise is that happiness seems to be rising around the world. “The results clearly show that the happiest societies are those that allow people the freedom to choose how to live their lives,” says University of Michigan political scientist Ronald Inglehart, who directed the study. “It’s a surprising finding. It’s widely believed that it’s almost impossible to raise an entire country’s happiness level.” (Quote from LiveScience.)

Greek Cypriots are happy and contented people.  This is according to a recent survey conducted by RAI Consultancy.

In the survey, 89 percent of respondents said that they are contented a lot in their life.  They also found out that 88 percent of Greek Cypriots wanted to prohibit smoking in enclosed public spaces which is surprising for a country that has high ratio of smokers.

“The level of satisfaction of Cypriots with their lifestyles has been steadily high throughout the years,” President of RAI Consultants, Olympios Toumazos said.

He also added two things can be attributed to the finding: that social conditions like strong family bonds and a Mediterranean temperament of expressing themselves when they are angry.

The survey was conducted in 976 individuals from December 2007 to January 2008.

Source: www.in.reuters.com

It began its clinical trials in 2003 by researchers from the Brown University Medical Center and is now showing results.

By using electrical pulses, doctors discovered a new treatment that can somehow help people suffering from depression live a happy life.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Ali Rezai explained how the treatment works.

“We slowly advance this probe into the brain,” he said, “and it goes to the precise location where there’s abnormal activity going on resulting in depression. Then we activate it by inserting tiny electrical pulses.”

He then added that the patient will feel nothing as the electrical pulses are mild.

54-year old Ohio resident Dianne Hire underwent the treatment and was happy with the outcome.  After 20 years suffering from depression, she is now feeling a sense of happiness.  “I’m starting to smile.  I’m so happy.” she said.

She tried the treatment after undergoing several anti-depressant drug doses and psychotherapy which nothing worked. She even tried to end her life thrice.

“It was unbearable. It was just unbearable. You start to feel that your friends and family would be better off without you.” She said.

But  when her doctors suggested this new therapy, she agreed. “There’s just not anything that’s going to change. So why live like this?” she said.

Her doctors then implanted battery powered pacemakers in her chest with wires extending to her brain.  It immensely helped her as now she had been more sociable; she likes to be with her friends and family always.

“There is such a huge difference, I can jump out of bed and look forward to the day. And I never used to do that.” she said.

Source: www.abcnews.go.com

Money, success or fame may be the benchmarks of happienss but a new study from Petaling Jaya in Malaysia is looking at a different measurement: waist size.

Dr.  Alvin Ng Lai Oan, a clinical psychologist from the University Kebangsaan Malaysun said that obese and overweight people are more likely to suffer from psychological problems than people with a optimal weight.   He also cited that waist line and body mass index are related to levels of self esteem and satisfaction in life.

Dr. Farisah Ismal, a endocrinological consultant from the Gleneagly Intari Medical Center said that only as little as 10 percent weight loss have a significant improvement in an individual’s health.

Dr. Ismail said that there is no shortcut to lose weight, it is by eating healthy, proper exercise and guidance from an expert can one see the effects of their efforts.

Source: www. redorbit.com

In a new survey by a global research film, Korea is seen as becoming worried about their current worsening economic situation.The survey was conducted by Pew Research Center in 24 countries and participated by 24,000 people which saw Korea trailing behind other countries in terms of their country’s economy.

92% of Koreans answered their current economic situation as bad, compared with the Lebanese and Japanese who got a percentage of 90 and 85 percent respectively. Also, 81% of Koreans said thy are not satisfied with the direction their country is going.

Experts say that it is due to the pressures of globalization and the recent controversy regarding U.S. beef that Koreans are getting pessimistic. “I think Korea is a front-line state facing pressures of globalization. The Korea Sandwich, where the economy is squeezed between China and Japan creates uncertainty about economic prospects that is very stressful.” Tim Condon, a chief economist at ING Financial Markets said. He also added that Korea’s pessimism can be attributed to other factors such as current political issues, among others.

In comparison, countries enjoying development or growth in their economy are happier and more optimistic. For example, 82% of Chinese said their national economic situation is as good as they are enjoying growth not available several years ago.

There’s also a little light at the end of the tunnel as 33% of Koreans are optimistic that their country will be better in the period of next year. It is against the 23 percent who thought otherwise.

What’s keeping workers in their jobs? High salary? Working environment? The prestige of the company? Knowing the wants of the workers is important as it will be evident in their performance.Apparently, a new survey from the City and Guilds provides a very different perspective on what does the workers really want.

In their survey, 57% of workers said they are keeping their job because they are really interested in it, 56% responded that it is their officemates who gives them the reason to come to office everyday and just 46% said that a high salary keeps them from resigning.

The survey also found out that workers are looking for a flexible working arrangement with their company. For instance, allowing them to work from home. Lacking this makes the worker unhappy at work.

Bob Coates, managing director of City and Guilds who conducted the survey said, “Companies can no longer rely on those established reward and recognition policies that fail to commensurate with employees and do little to combat stress levels in the workplace.

Source: www.smartcompany.com.au