Latest news with #WorldHappiness
The Hindu
03-05-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Sustaining happiness
In our pursuit of happiness, we often chase grand achievements — career success, financial security, or material comforts — allowing the outside world to define us. Remember, positions and acquisitions can give you a temporary dose of joy, but it's only family and friends who will be there at a time of crisis. Unhappiness thrives on our ability to keep visiting the past and keeping our mind out of control. However, happiness is an inside job, where you take charge of mind, body, soul and in today's era, mobile. True happiness often lies in the smallest and simplest actions of giving and receiving love or kindness. My happiness sustainers — caring, sharing, listening, and speaking with pure intention — are about practising without expectation. When we cultivate these habits, we build deeper connections, strengthen resilience, and lead more fulfilling lives. The real joy comes when this practice becomes an intrinsic motivation rather than a transactional act. I have a daily ritual of helping someone in small ways, and over the years, this has become an effortless, intrinsic part of me. The pleasure of giving without expectation is truly transformative and time well spent. How can we remain more united than divided in daily life with our fellow beings will define a lot of our happiness quotient in life. Caring is one of the most effective happiness boosters because it shifts our focus from ourselves to others. Acts of kindness are on the rise as per the latest World Happiness report and much more is needed. Imagine a colleague who seems withdrawn or stressed. A simple check-in, 'Hey, I noticed you've been quiet lately. Is everything okay?', can make her feel valued and heard. Research suggests that acts of kindness release oxytocin, often called the 'love hormone', which enhances mood and helps foster social bonds. Being helpful Offer help without being asked. A small gesture, like making tea for a family member or a co-worker, can brighten their day. Support a cause — volunteer at an NGO or mentor someone who needs guidance. My association with supporting education has taught me that the ground realities of each child and parent can be very different. Show appreciation — acknowledge efforts by thanking people with clarity of what you really appreciate rather just a thank you. I really liked when you got me the tea at the time I wanted it most — that means so much over a thank you. Happiness is amplified when it is shared. Whether it's sharing experiences, knowledge, or even material resources, the act of giving without expectations or ego creates a sense of abundance and fulfilment. An extended family tradition of having Sunday tea together has not only strengthened our bond but also created a safe space for meaningful conversations. Similarly, professionals who share their expertise through mentorship find immense satisfaction in helping others grow. Share meals, stories, or ideas — host a weekend gathering with friends and encourage open conversations. Contribute resources — donate books, clothes, or your time to someone in need. Just visiting the patient and being there for the caregivers in the hospital or home is so relieving for them and even the patient. Listening is often undervalued, yet it is one of the most powerful ways to show respect and care. In a world filled with distractions, truly listening to someone can be a rare gift. A leader who listens attentively to the team fosters an environment of trust and collaboration. Similarly, a parent who listens without judgment helps the child develop confidence and emotional security. I am still a work in progress here. Active listening Practise active listening — put away your phone and make eye contact when someone speaks. Listen without interrupting — pause before responding to truly process what the other person is saying. Show empathy — validate feelings instead of dismissing them. Instead of saying, 'It's not a big deal,', try, 'That sounds really tough. How can I support you?' Communication is key to happiness. When we express our thoughts and emotions openly, we reduce stress, resolve conflicts, and build deeper relationships. However, how we speak matters just as much as what we say. A workplace that encourages open, respectful communication has a healthier culture than one where employees bottle up concerns. Often, we must be mindful of not letting our unconscious biases spring up in the present context. Similarly, a friend who expresses appreciation for another's support strengthens their bond. Speak with kindness — compliment someone genuinely today or help someone needy. Here the tone of my voice needs to improve, says my wife as she doesn't feel it when I say nice things. Have courageous conversations — address issues directly but respectfully rather than avoiding them. Just being good and polite is often the easier way out. Tough conversations in a safe space are needed more than ever before. Happiness isn't something we chase — it's something we cultivate through daily actions. A lot of us have become comfortable in living with anxiety or in isolation over trying to overcome that. A bit of effort to the make the best of what we have or what we are facing can change most situations. Keep life simple & enjoy the small daily pleasures of life daily. These simple but powerful happiness sustainers —Caring, Sharing, Listening, and Speaking—can transform the way we interact with others and ourselves. So, here's your challenge: today, pick one of these boosters and apply it consciously. Show kindness to a stranger, truly listen to a loved one, or express gratitude to a colleague. Small and simple daily actions create big impacts with lifelong memories. The attention we give to ourselves and our loved ones — and the attention we receive in return — shape our sense of belonging and fulfilment. he more we invest in these simple yet powerful practices, the richer and more connected our lives become. After all, happiness isn't just a personal pursuit; it's a shared experience we nurture together. leadersnkh@
The Guardian
26-04-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Happy meals: is eating together the secret to happiness?
Think back to your school days. At lunchtime, where did you sit? Did you take advantage of the smorgasbord of kids to find someone new and expand your horizons? Probably not. But that's what Kate Freston advises you do when eating with other people. She's a veteran of dining at Castlemaine's Community Lunch – which attracts up to 150 people every Tuesday during school term time. 'I used to do a quick scan around the tables and think, 'Oh God, I hope I don't sit next to a dud',' she says sheepishly. 'And then, you're like … maybe I'm the dud! Now, I really like how this crosses over into general life. You may have had a chat with 80-year-old Margaret, then you see her down the street and you may give a little wave and have a little chat.' Freston, a community access worker who lives with her teenage son, had been missing the communal eating she'd experienced when travelling overseas, such as in Ghana where she stayed with local families. 'It was beautiful, this simple act of fostering closeness with people,' she says. 'I thought, why don't I do that here? But I guess lifestyles and schedules get in the way.' Sharing meals is the one of the best things we can do for our wellbeing, according to a report released last month. The World Happiness report 2025, based on a Gallup poll of more than 150,000 people from 142 countries and territories, found that people who dine alone have the lowest life evaluation rating globally compared with those who regularly share a meal, who are happier. The benefits don't just come from breaking bread with the townsfolk: the World Happiness report focuses on eating with people we know, which may mean friends, family or housemates. According to the report, sharing meals 'has a strong impact on subjective wellbeing – on par with the influence of income and unemployment. Those who share more meals with others report significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and positive affect, and lower levels of negative affect. This is true across ages, genders, countries, cultures and regions.' Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Growing up, my family only ate together once a week and we all brought a book to the table, thinking that more interesting than conversation. By contrast, my boyfriend is the youngest of seven, and all nine family members were expected to take turns telling a story while squabbling over the potatoes. Freston's background is more like mine. 'Growing up, we were pretty much forced to eat at the table, but it wasn't like in movies. It was more 'You're not getting down until you finish.' So when we got older and could rebel, we'd just eat dinner on our lap watching TV,' she says. 'Now, unfortunately, my son and I don't eat much together because we've got different schedules. I think not having grown up with eating at the table being a happy occasion, I've never tried to instil it.' Parents risk getting burnout if they worry too much about getting bums on dinner table seats every day, says Dr Georgia Middleton. A research fellow at Flinders University's Caring Futures Institute, Middleton focusses on the social and cultural aspects of food. She thinks it's fine to have a few meals a week that are a means to an end: getting everyone fed and back to their nightly routines. What she's interested in is how to encourage families to share a few meals more intentionally. 'A kinder and more beneficial way to go may be having one or two meals a week where you sit down together, with the intention of connecting with each other, connecting over the food you're eating, communicating, sharing and bonding,' she says. 'The meal may be messy, it may not be perfect, but you will have spent some dedicated time together as a family.' According to the World Happiness report, Australians share, on average, 8.5 meals per week with people they know (about 50% of our lunches and 70% of our dinners), ranking well above people in the UK and US. While the connection is strong, the report says 'there remain vast gaps in our understanding of the causal dynamics' – that is, it is not yet clear whether eating together improves subjective wellbeing and social connectedness or vice versa. Nevertheless, when it comes to the strength of the association between sharing meals and wellbeing, Australia is one place where this association is the strongest – although more research needs to be done to ascertain why. 'My conjecture is that in countries where individualistic culture is strong, social rituals that bring people together might be particularly important for people's wellbeing,' says Alberto Prati, one of the authors of the report and an assistant professor in economics at University College London. Middleton says other research has indicated that prioritising personal dining preferences is more prevalent in more individualistic countries such as the US and the UK, compared with European countries such as France, Italy or Switzerland where tradition and eating together are more important. 'I would say that [Australia is] a bit of a hybrid between the two, perhaps heading in the direction of more individualisation, but not quite to the same extent as the US and UK,' she says. But we are living more individualised lives. Single-person households are on the rise in Australia, with the 2021 census showing an increase from 18% in 1981 to 26% in 2021. Castlemaine Community Lunch is not the only initiative designed to bring together people – living alone or not – at a social meal. An hour down the Calder Freeway in Melbourne there are regular Free to Mingle events with conversational prompts and craft activities. The Chatty Cafe scheme is an initiative where venues across the country can offer 'have a chat' tables for anyone wanting to drop in and connect with other people. Club Sup holds big dinner parties for strangers in Sydney and Melbourne, expanding the 'orphan's Christmas' idea into something all-year round. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion So what am I waiting for? Like Freston, I live in Castlemaine, and despite it being a culturally buzzing small town, I've resisted diving headfirst into the community. It's that avoidant gene: what if you commit and then can't escape? Retired school principal Vic Say, who says he is shy and an introvert, reckons it's fine to just dip a toe in the water. 'Community Lunch is valuable in being with people without necessarily having to be madly social,' he says. 'As somebody who's lived on my own for the past nine years, it creates a punctuation mark in the week.' 'The food is always fabulous and very healthy and contains a lovely range of ingredients that I wouldn't have at home,' he says. Using donated ingredients, chef Duang Tengtrirat creates a vegetarian main, two salads and a dessert each week. That makes sense – it's likely that by sharing meals we will benefit from better nutrition. If I'm on my own I'm liable to crack an egg over instant rice to save time and money. Reviewing the literature about shared meals, the World Happiness report researchers found that adolescents who ate more meals with family members had 'better diet and nutritional habits, lower levels of obesity, fewer eating disorders, and greater academic achievement'. Having settled at a trestle table with my bean bake, I suss out the room. The lunch is attended by a broad demographic, most of whom are chatting, but there's no pressure. Freston had even advised me I could bring a book if I wanted – better than scrolling a phone, in her view. 'Anyone sitting here?' a woman asks, hovering next to me. 'You are,' the woman opposite says with a smile. I was about to say that. As is human nature, I impose an entire backstory on to the woman sitting opposite, but all my preconceptions explode five minutes into our conversation. By the end of the lunch I have to admit to myself that one advantage of being a journalist is the privilege of having intense conversations with strangers but it turns out you can do that even when you're not on the job. That night, I take a leaf from the book of my boyfriend's family. When we sit down for dinner, he and I see who can tell the best tale from the day.
Saba Yemen
23-03-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Libya Ranks First in Maghreb on World Happiness Index
Washington - Saba: Libya ranked first among the Maghreb countries, sixth in the Arab world, and 79th globally in the 2025 World Happiness Index, led by Finland as the happiest country in the world. These results are part of the 13th annual World Happiness Report, issued under the auspices of the United Nations and based on data from the Gallup World Poll, which covered more than 140 countries. The ranking is based on the average assessments of individuals' lives over the past three years (2022-2024) and takes into account six key variables that contribute to explaining these assessments: per capita gross domestic product, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and perceptions of corruption. The report shows Libya's relative progress in the happiness index compared to its neighbors in the Maghreb region, despite the challenges it faces, reflecting improvements in some aspects related to quality of life. A new report by the World Happiness website, published today, Thursday, on the occasion of International Day of Happiness, revealed a list of the world's happiest countries for 2025. According to the new report, Scandinavian countries are among the top ten. Researchers identified several key factors that contribute to individual happiness, including social support, income, health freedom, and the prevalence of corruption. The new ranking included 147 countries. Finland maintained its top spot for the eighth consecutive year as the happiest country in the world. Afghanistan came in last, and the United States dropped one place to 24th, its worst ranking ever. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
The Guardian
22-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Wellbeing' isn't a joke – it's a tool for tackling populism
Last week's International Day of Happiness lives on. Not so much in the US, where the chaotic uncertainty engineered by Donald Trump and his Project 2025 supporters is creating misery, and not just for the public servants fired or suspended from their jobs. It might also be difficult to see how the goal of happiness is rated in Whitehall when the UK sits only one place above the US in the United Nations' annual world happiness index. The UK slipped from the 20th most happy country to 23rd in this year's index, while the US dropped one position to 24th, both well behind the Nordic countries, which lead the world, and many others including Mexico, Australia and Belgium. It would be wrong, though, to put the UK in the same bracket as the US because the Treasury – often considered among the more hard-hearted of bureaucratic organisations – is on a very different journey to the course being set in Washington. While Elon Musk is busy tearing through USAID and Trump is waving executive orders that dismantle the education department, the UK finance ministry has committed to include wellbeing, for which we can substitute the word happiness, when judging the benefits of public spending. In the vicious budget fight going on at the moment in Whitehall over the three-year spending review, departmental chiefs are supposed to stop, smile and for the first time show how their policies will impact the wellbeing of recipients and the nation. In this respect, the UK will be leading the world. How well this task will be performed is a concern for anyone who has worked inside Whitehall. There will be plenty of civil servants who consider wellbeing a woolly term, especially in the militaristic upper echelons of the public sector, where mental health days and stress workshops are considered laughable diversions, and, if they are embraced, act as a figleaf over a debilitating, 19th-century command-and-control management structure. There will also be opposition from those who consider wellbeing a diversion from the central task of sparking the UK economy back into life with a 'whatever it takes' growth agenda. It would be easy to adopt a cynical attitude – one that highlights the welfare cuts expected to play a major role in balancing Rachel Reeves's budget and asks how they will affect the wellbeing of benefit recipients. That would be easy – and wrong. As Professor Richard Layard says, there is hard data for Treasury officials to get their teeth into if they need to be convinced of wellbeing's importance. Layard, an eminent economist at the London School of Economics, believes happiness has 'never been more important'. 'As this year's World Happiness report shows, unhappiness is the main cause of populism, which is the scourge of our era,' he says. 'By contrast, in Britain the spending review process offers hope, since it explicitly targets wellbeing.' One of the most interesting chapters in the report is written by a group of French academics, showing how populism can be explained, not by economic conditions, but by a broader sense of wellbeing in the population. According to Layard, it has long been known that whether a government gets re-elected depends more on the life satisfaction of the people than on the state of the economy. That may be, but, for policymakers, having some recent evidence could be the spur they need to take action. For instance, in the US, there is a link over the past decade between steadily declining life satisfaction and voters changing party in each presidential election. The remarkable performance of the US economy should correlate with high levels of satisfaction in incumbent presidents and Congressional representatives. Not a bit. Similarly, in Britain, high historical levels of life satisfaction in 2019 led to the Conservatives being re-elected while low levels of satisfaction in 2024 led to their defeat. 'So it's not 'the economy, stupid', it's 'wellbeing, stupid',' says Layard. In 2020, the Treasury green book of spending guidance was revised to include an assessment of all benefits, psychological as well as financial. In the spending review, wellbeing coins will be allocated and then converted into money to indicate whether policy initiatives should go ahead. But as Layard and the French academics – led by President Macron's confidant Yann Algan, from the Paris business school HEC – say in the report, the message is broader. The research shows that when people are dissatisfied with their lot and lack trust in their fellow citizens, they become rightwing populists, while people who are dissatisfied but trust their fellow citizens become leftwing populists. Reeves will be concerned about keeping the government's finances on track in the spring statement on Wednesday, and might delay policies promoting wellbeing if they are seen to cost money. The evidence is that this would only feed Nigel Farage's Reform party, and possibly leftwing splinter groups. Labour needs to avoid this outcome.
