HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEAD

AN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

A survey of 52,000 Americans indicates that "happiness is in the head, not the wallet," two psychologists report. "In fact, happiness has less to do with what you have than with what you want. It comes less often from absolute achievements than relative ones."

"Happiness is a matter of setting personal standards, not chasing after other people's," the psychologists report in an issue of Psychology Today magazine. The psychologists - Philip Shaver of New York University and Jonathan Freedman of Yale - asked several hundred questions of readers of the magazine.

Replies came from more than 52,000 aged from 15 to 95. One conclusion is that happiness does not come "from therapy, religion, drugs, mysticism or a long list of sexual conquests.

Happiness has a lot to do with accepting and enjoying what one is and what one has, maintaining a balance between expectations and achievements." Seventy percent of respondents described themselves as happy. The psychologists said the group is not typical of the general American public since the magazine's readers tend on average to be "younger, more affluent, better educated and more liberal than the average middle-class American."

Attitudes essential to happiness, said Shaver and Freedman, are that life has meaning and direction; the indivdual can control the good things that happen and is not a pawn of events; the person disagrees with the cynical view expressed by the belief "there's a sucker born every minute," and the person disagrees with the statement that "good things can't last.

Among their other findings: -
Employed wives are happier than housewives; -
Unhappy children often grow into happy adults;
Sexual satisfaction is a matter of quality, not quantity; -
Extramarital sex doesn't affect a person's over-all happiness; -
Homosexuals are as happy as heterosexuals; -
Atheists are as happy as Christians or Jews; -
People living in the city are as happy as those living in the country.

DON says: A very enlightening article. It has changed my perspective on life. I think we tend to accept the status quo, and have followed the lead of our parents, and the very conservative outlook of Canadians. The article, I think tells us to examine our lives more closely, and look for the positives in life. If we can do this and change our attitudes, I think we can enrich our lives, and thusly making those around us happier.