By Sri Keshava, for Omkara World
Have you ever wondered if you were born in the wrong country? From a certain president’s ardent request for us to “go shopping” to the current struggles in Congress debating access to universal health care… It is still a great country, but one that’s having trouble finding her true north. It’s time to take the compass in your own hands.
No matter how patriotic, it’s interesting, if not prudent, to at least consider what other cultures hold dear. Back in 1972, the King of Bhutan coined the phrase gross national happiness (GNH). At first, it was a glib remark countered at the concept of gross national product (GNP), the value of all goods and services produced in one year by an individual country. Supposed to reflect the average income of a given nation’s citizens, GNP is the benchmark by which we judge a healthy economy. An economy is nothing without its people, and a healthy GNP somehow hints at a people’s quality of life and by proxy, their state of happiness. Out of the mouth of babes, as they say… or should we say Kings? The sheer brilliance of the monarch’s remark was self-evident, and soon inspired a national commitment to build an economy based on spiritual values that serve their population’s general level of wellbeing. Slightly more poignant than, “Go shopping.”
Gross national happiness video clip.
A second-generation GNH concept, treating happiness as a socioeconomic development metric, was proposed in 2006 by Med Jones, the president of International Institute of Management. The metric measures socioeconomic development by tracking seven development areas including a nation's mental and emotional health. GNH value is proposed to be an index function of the total average per capita of the following measures:
1. Economic wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of economic metrics such as consumer debt, average income to consumer price index ratio and income distribution.
2. Environmental wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of environmental metrics such as pollution, noise and traffic.
3. Physical wellness: Indicated via statistical measurement of physical health metrics such as severe illnesses .
4. Mental wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of mental health metrics such as usage of antidepressants and rise or decline of psychotherapy patients.
5. Workplace wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of labor metrics such as jobless claims, job change, workplace complaints and lawsuits.
6. Social wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of social metrics such as discrimination, safety, divorce rates, complaints of domestic conflicts and family lawsuits, public lawsuits, crime rates.
7. Political wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of political metrics such as the quality of local democracy, individual freedom, and foreign conflicts.
While schools of thought argue with regard to methodology, all alternative indicators agree on one thing - national happiness is more relevant and important to wellbeing than national consumption. We don’t have to depend on the government for our happiness (though wouldn’t it be nice?); with a little introspection we can take steps toward being our own happiness coach. The question is… where do you get your bliss? And can you get more?
The current economic woes have hit most of us. Few have escaped unscathed. Perhaps it’s time to implement our own happiness indicator. What makes you feel great? Is it a good night’s sleep? Playing with your dog with the abandon of child? If you've created a cycle of debt, would consuming less help ease your financial stress? By no means do I mean to trivialize complex financial calamities, but I would like to ask… what simple actions (or inactions) might tangibly improve our happiness, either in this moment or the long term. For each of us the answer will differ, but there are some oldies but goodies:
- Take a long bath, a long walk or a long look at your kids while they sleep.
- Take a yoga, meditation or salsa class. Move that body.
- Go camping at Tahoe, the Poconos or your own back yard.
- Make love to your significant other or simply surprise them with a sensual massage
- Fall asleep in the sunshine.
- Reconnect with your spiritual practice.
- Make an appointment with a counselor at one of the surprisingly common sliding-scale mental-health clinics available nationwide
Don’t suffer alone. Reach out to friends and family. Remember a time in your life when you felt reciprocation from the universe, and ask: How can I get there again?
Need more ideas? Check out books like Todd Outcalt’s, The Best Things In Life Are Free: Cherishing the Simple Pleasures. If that’s not for you, there are plenty of titles to suit every tradition, spiritual or secular.
But right now… before you click to the next piece of online candy, ask yourself… where do I get my bliss?
Don’t ignore the answer. Be a good citizen and contribute to your nation’s GNH. And if that fails, you can always just go shopping.
Sri Keshava is a holistic entrepreneur who has made her passions, her business. She is the author of Gurus, Rock Stars & the Men In Between (a memoir from monk to punk diva in two seminal spiritual rock bands), co-director of Taal Dance Company, licensed real estate agent with a penchant for green, host of Gorgeous Green Homes and contributor to wellness and investment journals.
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Adam is a Reiki Master, certified health and lifestyle counselor, licensed massage therapist, 20-year practicing bramana-initiated Bhakti Yogi, spiritual advisor, visionary, jock and veteran of the “hardcore punk scene” all rolled into one. He is the founder of Omkara World and produced the mind/body fitness DVD “Intelligent Fitness."
Click here for Adam's past article archive.
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