How Can You Measure Happiness?

Genevieve Boast - Emergency Happiness

In Late November 2010, David Cameron announced that he had kick started the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to measure the nation’s psychological and environmental welfare – Also known as happiness.

A former US Senator was once quoted saying that a country’s Gross Domestic Product (a total sum of either what everyone has earnt or spent in a year: GDP for short) measure everything except that that makes life worthwhile.

Nearly three months on and we have still yet to see exactly how this coalition intend to proceed with this on paper. So it begs to ask the question: how DO you measure happiness?

Evolution NOW spoke with one of the happiest people we know, Genevieve Boast, who runs a company called Emergency Happiness. Gen was (pun intended) more than happy to help and when asked these are some of the marvellous tips she provided on how to measure your own happiness:

·   Do I wake up in the morning looking forward to the day no matter what I have to do?

·   Do I celebrate the small things in life almost as much as the big ones (i.e my train being on time on a rainy day vs. winning a new contract at work)

·   If I take joy in helping others no matter how small the gift (like a smile)

·   How often I think about the things in my life that make me happy and feel gratitude for having them

·   Whether I love myself and feel loved by others

·   How often I catch myself judging people or situations and choose consciously to stop it

·   How often I can say I am learning something new and growing into a better person

·   By how powerful and in control of my life choices I feel

·   By how connected I feel to my life and the people in it

·   By how quickly I spring back from 'challenges' and step up to try again

·   By how playful and energetic I feel

Do you think these types of questions will be included on this questionnaire when it does eventually materialize? Or do you think its one of DC’s gassed idea’s that may never come to fruition?

Either way, happiness is something everyone would like to have in their lives all the time. If you don’t think you’re getting enough, then change your way of thinking and the world will change with you.