The Pursuit of Happiness
Take a deep breath and hold on to your seat. New research has shown that the British people are not very happy. No, honestly. The most recent ICM poll has revealed that 4 out of 10 of us think life has got worse over the last five years and that we are feeling ever more despondent. Surprised?
You shouldn't be. The new research merely confirms a well-recognised phenomenon, one we read about regularly in the Sunday supplements. We have more money and less time, more valuables and fewer values, better health and more anxiety. We are more highly educated and more widely travelled, better fed and more fed up. Heard it all somewhere before?
As with all surveys about happiness, you need to take the results with a pinch of salt. It is simply not in our nature to answer the pollsters with an upbeat, "Yes, I'm feeling fantastic today, thanks for asking!" Just because we say we are more despondent, it doesn't necessarily mean we are.
Nevertheless, we hear the story so often nowadays we can't simply dismiss it as English gloominess. We really are unhappier than earlier generations and the ICM survey hints at the reason for this: "The biggest contributor to life satisfaction seems to be a healthy set of personal relationships." Regrettably our lifestyles today tend to harm rather than help these relationships.
Recognising that happiness has more in common with sound relationships than with possessions or wealth is an encouraging start. And yet in the same newspapers that report on our unhappiness, you will also read adverts for the next consumer durable you cannot live without, the next holiday which will truly transform your life or the new fragrance which will guarantee you a fantastic sex life. It may also contain articles on the hyper-salaries, sexual misdemeanours and luxurious houses of the rich and famous. Isn't there some inconsistency here?
Happiness is an elusive quarry. The longer we pursue it, whether through more money, better sex, finer food or smarter gadgets, the further away it seems.
But it was never supposed to be the object of our existence. Being in right relationship with ourselves, with our environment, with each other and with God is our real calling. If we answer it, we may well find ourselves happy along the way.
Nick Spencer
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