Happiness and Gratitude

1. What are you thankful for? Reading the Book of Gratitude can be an hour well spent....

2. Where are you on the Global Rich List?... (via Linkastic)

I wonder if there is a similar happiness meter and if one could plot a Happiness Index for individuals versus the Richness index, would there be a correlation? I think not....

Update: Seems people (specifically, the King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck) have tried to define a Gross National Happiness (GNH) index for countries in "an attempt to define quality of life in more holistic and psychological terms than Gross National Product."

Others have defined a Happy Planet Index while others study the economics of happiness.

Also, via Mefi and wikipedia:

Meet Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi- author of the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience which "investigates the happiness of doing, how the balance between stress/anxiety and slack/boredom effect experience and happiness, and how we can all use it to our advantage."

Csikszentmihalyi is a Professor of Psychology and has "devoted his life's work to the study of what makes people truly happy, satisfied and fulfilled" and is one of the world's leading researcher on positive psychology.[1]

In an interview with Wired magazine, Csikszentmihalyi described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."[2]

And here is a Ask Mefi thread about finding flow in everyday life.

Another renowned name in the area of positive psychology is Barbara Fredrickson, who is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina where she is also Director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory.