Suggestion Before Reading

To get the most out of this blog, I highly suggest you start from the oldest post. You will gain a greater understanding of the text this way. Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you enjoy.

Works Cited: Happiness is Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Gho. Photograph. Thimphu. Dooars to Bhutan. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

Gothic. Photograph. London. Classic Art. Web. 28 Nov. 2010.

Iceland. Photograph. Reykjavik. Iceland Explorer. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.

Island. Photograph. Thailand. Koh Samaui. Web. 27 Nov. 2010.

London. Photograph. London. Orangesmile. Web. 28 Nov. 2010.

Miami Oceanfront. Photograph. Miami. Sunny Realty. Web. 28 Nov. 2010.

Netherlands. Photograph. Rotterdam. Hotels.com. Web. 24 Nov. 2010.

Qatar. Photograph. Avilian. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

Saint Paul Cathedral. Photograph. Netherlands. Open Churches. Web. 24 Nov. 2010.

Smile. Photograph. Concord. Web. 28 Nov. 2010.

Sri Sri Ashram. Photograph. Bangalore. Anandway. Web. 28 Nov. 2010.

Swiss Streets. Photograph. Switzerland. Expat Travels. Victoria. Web. 25 Nov. 2010.

Swiss Train. Photograph. Switzerland. Train Travel. Web. 25 Nov. 2010.

Wahhabism. Photograph. Thimphu. Tres Sugar. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

Weiner, Eric. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. New York: Twelve, 2008. Print.

Response Questions: Happiness is Understanding

How did you experience the book? It's not always helpful to talk about whether or not you liked the book, but rather how you felt as you were reading it? Were you pulled effortlessly into the book...or did you have difficulty getting into it? Why?
This book was a pleasure to read. From the very first paragraph Eric Weiner drew me in with shocking comparisons that made you need, not want, to keep reading. He knows how to keep the reader interested while revealing important facts that could be considered boring if just presented on a sheet of paper. His gift with metaphors and similes makes it easy to relate to these far away countries problems.
Were you happy about your book choice? Why or why not?
I was extremely happy with my book choice. How could I not be happy with a book that seeks to show the reader, essentially, happiness itself. This novel was masterfully written and brought me to the heart of many countries. That was especially enjoyable for me because I love learning about the cultures and lifestyles of various places.
Which place discussed in the book did you find the most intriguing? Why do you think that was the case?
I was the most intrigued with Iceland in the book. I believe this is partially because it appears that Eric Weiner, himself, is most interested in this chilly country. I am also amazed that the people in Iceland do not mind failure. I cannot fathom this really. I have always truly been afraid of failure and it is often a huge source of my own unhappiness. I am so glad this chapter was included because it caused me to take a deeper look at me own insecurities and imperfections. Hopefully, I will learn from what I read here and realize that sometimes failure is an option and it is just the trying that counts.
What central ideas might the author be exploring-the novel's themes? Consider ideas about the nature of love, the requirements of goodness, the meaning of justice, the burden of the past...basic human issues that are at stake in the book.
Eric Weiner is exploring the idea of money as a source of happiness. This appears in almost every chapter in the book and is most certainly a basic human issue. He comes to find that money has no relevance when it comes to happiness beyond providing our basic needs. In fact, too much money can even cause unhappiness as Weiner discovers in Qatar.
What do you feel you learned from this project? Please consider the book, the technology involved with producing the project, or any other aspect regarding the project.
During this project I learned a great deal about myself and how happy and lucky I am. I am so glad that I live in America, and although it may not be one of the happiest places in the world, I am grateful I have my freedom and do not live in a war-torn country such as Moldova. I also learned a great deal of blogging through a process of a lot of trial and error. I learned how to post videos, edit layouts, and get music onto my page.
What was the most enjoyable part of the project? Please explain why you felt this way.
The most enjoyable part of my project was the actual reading of the book. I have always been an avid reader and adored the way Eric Weiner kept me interested in the book with his quirky stories.
What was the most difficult part of the project? Please explain why you felt this way.
For me, the most difficult part of the project was getting a video onto the page. I did not know how to embed the code for a youtube video so the video would appear on the page itself. It took a great deal of time and the help of my brother to understand and learn how to do this properly.

Happiness is Music

The first song on this blog is by a British band know as The Beatles, Here Comes the Sun, and is extremely uplifting. The second is by an American artist, Bobby McFerrin, called Don't Worry Be Happy which truly captures the American way of life.

Happy Now?

When I visited the WDH, I was an empty soul searching for something that cannot simply be found by analyzing endless self-help books to take a look “at my inner self”. I was attempting to uncover the secret to happiness. I searched country after country and found bits and pieces of what made people content. In the Netherlands, I found that strong facts are necessary to build foundations and keep one firm in their beliefs. In Switzerland, I learned that maybe a little bit of down time is not a bad thing at all. In Bhutan I began to imagine what the world would be like if all the government cared about was the happiness of its people. Qatar taught me that even though money can make someone feel safe, too much of a good thing often leads to despair. In Iceland I found that failure is an option, and an encouraging one at that. In Moldova I was brought back to reality and became thankful for what I had. In Thailand I realized that no matter how much I contemplate the universe it will only make me less content and maybe I should just be happy with what I do know instead of always needing more. In Great Britain I learned that the American way is not always the right way. America taught me that to find happiness I do not need to travel the entire globe, I just need to look inside of myself and draw on my support systems around me. This experience has by no means left me at a ten on the happiness scale, but I have certainly grown as a person and am glad I embarked on this journey.

America: Happiness is Home

The famous Miami beach

The Miami skyline

Although I live in Washington, I decided that to re-enter America I needed to do it with a bang. My wife and I decided that Miami would be perfect to do this (and we had always wanted to travel there). The second we stepped out of the airport we were struck with a wall of heat and humidity, but not miserable like the heat in Qatar; it was a delicious tropical heat. I assumed that America would be a happiness superpower, just as it is within foreign affairs. My research at the WDH said otherwise, however. America is by no means the happiest place in the world. Eighty-four percent of Americans reported being very happy- but that is not even close to how many Americans are considered wealthy by worldly standards. Despite many Americans' beliefs, money cannot buy happiness; it is found within yourself and brought out by the people around you. This is what I have learned above all else on my journey- happiness is a state of mind. Perhaps Miami and its paradise-like qualities have put me in that state of mind for I feel happier than I have in years. I think I might just move here, to the land of the Cuban Americans and wonderful coffee. To me, this place is bliss. Who knew I’d find it here.

India: Happiness is a Contradiction

India's famous Taj Mahal

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's ashram

India holds significant sentimental value in my heart as this was the first country I was assigned to as a youthful, enthusiastic national correspondent. The India I lived in was overflowing with outbreaks of bubonic plague, questions of nuclear weapons, and economic tribulations. I was always vaguely aware that there was a whole other side to India, but I made the decision to pay no heed to the land of gurus and miracles. I decided to return to India to pay this mystifying “other half” homage and explore how, exactly, contentment and desolation could contradict one another and exist side-by-side, forming two separate worlds that seldom cross each other’s course. When I first arrived in India I went to visit a popular guru named Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. I took a taxi to his ashram in India’s Silicon Valley near Bangalore. The ashram had a breathtaking garden with just the right amount of quiet in contrast to world outside its gates. I went to a speech the guru gave explaining success without stress. When I first saw him he was wearing a graceful white robe and a colossal necklace made entirely of flowers. He told us that a baby smiles four hundred times a day while an adult only smiles seventeen times a day. This is a result of stress. Perhaps stress causes much of the world’s unhappiness and this is why youth are happier than adults. I liked where this idea was going but it was time to head back home. America here I come.

This is a video of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and him talking about his secrets to happiness.

Great Britain: Happiness is a Work in Progress

View of the London streets at night

The Gothic style Saint-Paul Cathedral in London

I had my flight attendant telling me I had come to the wrong place to find happiness, that couldn’t be a good sign at all. She looked me straight in the eye and said, “We don’t do happiness.” What was that supposed to mean? I shook off the comment and walked out onto the London streets. It was quite rainy, but other than that the temperature felt amazing. I loved the architecture there; it really felt welcoming despite its gothic style. Great Britain has recently experienced a huge increase in interest in furthering national happiness. Citizens talk about it as much as they talk about what was on television the night before. They are always comparing America’s view on happiness with their own, slightly cynical, view of bliss. Apparently they look down upon the way strangers are so friendly with each other in America. It is shameful to be too “American”, too eager and amiable. They like to work up to the outgoingness Americans consider normal. This increases the trust that they feel among their friends; thus, they feel safe and happy among their immediate circle, they just have to work up to it.

Thailand: Happiness is Not Thinking

Stunning photograph of Thailand

A charming group of Thai schoolchildren

In Thailand I lived with an American man, Scott, and his Thai girlfriend, Noi. Noi taught me the Thai secret of happiness one day when we were alone at the house. She informed me how she was so aggravated with me and Scott because we were constantly thinking too much. She made the comparison of thinking to the exercise of running. Even though your legs are moving and you may appear to be going somewhere, you may really be running straight into a storm, or you may be on a treadmill. People in Thailand never buy self-help books or have therapy related shows such as Dr. Phil. They would much rather not dwell on feelings of sadness and push them to the back of their minds to never be thought of again. This clearly explains why anytime I asked a Thai person if they are happy they looked quite perplexed that I would have asked such a peculiar question. They are so happy that they have never even spent a great deal of time pondering such minute things as happiness itself. If you really think about your options, the bottom line is that there are only three ways to make yourself happier. You can increase the positive, decrease the negative, or just change the subject. This is what the Thai culture has taught citizens to do. They do not think of what has caused them pain or why things are the way they are. They only keep moving and keep living. I think I like the way that sounds.

Moldova: Happiness is Somewhere Else

Apartments built during the Soviet Union's reign

Chisinau, Moldova's capital

I had completed half of my expedition around the world, and I had come to the apparent realization I am not a generally happy human being. Being surrounded by cheerfulness was beginning to leave me feeling disheartened and yearning for the contentment these countries had. I desperately needed to take a break from happiness and visit something a little more recognizable to me, hopelessness, just on a much wider scale. Moldova materialized to be the perfect country to satisfy my unfortunate need for melancholy. According to the enlightening information I collected at the WDH, this is the least blissful place on the planet, which undoubtedly fails to be surprising considering this was a former Soviet republic. My plane landed in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, and I was surprised by how normal looking the country appeared. There is classic Soviet architecture everywhere you look, that is the buildings have a serious lack of any style (besides the graffiti)-just cheap and there. When I asked people if they were unhappy I got a universal yes. The citizens there have no money to live and survive off of. Everyone had Moldovan Scowls on their faces and looked as though they were about to die. The young looked old and the old looked ancient, I would come to find this was a result of a serious lack of happiness. Maybe unhappy was not what I needed, maybe Thailand was.

Iceland: Happiness is Failure

Iceland's capital, Reykjavik

The snow covering Iceland

When I arrived in Iceland at 10:00 a.m., the only light was from the stark white snow illuminating the frozen earth. The sun was nowhere in sight and would apparently not be rising at all for a few months-lovely. I did not want to be there; I’ve never been one for cold weather. But Iceland was an essential aspect on my journey to discover contentment. This country has consistently ranked in the top percentiles -if not number one- of the happiest places in the world. After questioning many native Icelanders, I had come to the conclusion that this is because failure is admired in their culture. Well, failure is admired if it is a result of good intentions. For instance, if an American businessman uses ruthless tactics to reach success this is considered the ultimate taboo. Icelanders think that it is only the trying that counts, not the end result. They like to try and learn new things even if they know the end result will not necessarily be a masterpiece. This explains why it seems like absolutely everyone in Iceland is a poet or an artist of some sort, or why so many teenagers have garage bands with no hope of success. I imagined that the lack of pressure to succeed only caused more success and a deeper understanding of one’s inner self. 

Qatar: Happiness is a Winning Lottery Ticket

A follower of Wahhabism

An aerial shot of Qatar

The second I stepped outside of the airport, I was struck with how astonishingly hot the thick air outside felt against my skin. I cannot imagine how all the women who follow Wahhabism can manage to cover themselves from head to toe all the time. But I failed to ponder the thought for long, for I felt overwhelmed hearing the various tongues of Tagalong, Tamil, and an off duty soldier with a thick New Jersey accent pounding in my jetlagged ears. Now, I would like you to imagine you just won the lottery. After you go in and quit your job you realize it is time to decide how you will disperse you new found wealth. You do not want to be selfish, so you’ll give a little to buy your dad a sports car. Maybe you’ll donate some amount to a charity you’re passionate about. You know you need to be a responsible adult so you’ll invest a portion of your winnings. Eventually you’ll start to work again, possibly part-time on Thursdays. The bottom-line is if you were to win the lottery you’d feel safe, happy even. Well, Qatar won the oil and gas lottery. Now citizens of Qatar enjoy indulging in various luxuries and hiring lifelong servants for themselves. So, since Qatar has all the money it could ever need, it must therefore be happy. Not so fast, studies have proven that after lottery winners hit a high, they quickly return to the same level of happiness they were at before. This is due to the fact that events that were once enjoyable are no longer exciting and just normal.


This is a video explaining the negative effects of the oil lottery Qatar has won.

Bhutan: Happiness is a Policy

Tashi in his gho

Wow, the government in Bhutan actually has a national policy of Gross National Happiness. I am enamored with the reason I came here in the first place. When I first arrived, I was greeted by my guide, Tashi, who was dressed in a gho, the traditional dress for a Bhutanese man. A gho is actually required to be worn by men during business hours, making Bhutan the only country that has a dress code for men.  Together we proceeded to my hotel which is located in Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu. On my way to the city I recognized a lack of signs and advertising that kept bothering me. One hand painted sign, however, caught my eye, and recalling my experiences in Bhutan summed up the way the Bhutanese view life:

When the last tree is cut,

When the last river is emptied,

When the last fish is caught,

Only then will Man realize that he cannot eat money.

The Thimphu valley which held my hotel

As I mentioned earlier, Bhutan’s government strides to raise their nation’s Gross National Happiness. This means that instead of measuring the country’s progress in the traditional manner, they gauge development by the happiness-or unhappiness- of their countrymen. Americans view progress through power, money, and satisfaction, while the Bhutanese would much readily assess the government’s personal obligation to its people. The sign I passed on my way into town connected the importance of contentment to the Bhutanese individual not measuring their worth by wealth because in the end, riches never matter. I left Bhutan humbled and a better person and hoped to take this lesson to heart.

Switzerland: Happiness is Boredom

Beautiful view from my train

One of the remarkably clean Swiss streets

Switzerland is known for its punctuality and efficiency as demonstrated in their always-prompt, never-late trains. I learned this much quicker than I would have liked as my train from Germany was only slightly behind schedule and sent me running to catch my first Swiss train. The Swiss are also a wealthy bunch with virtually no unemployment to report. I thought, “How could this not be one of the happiest countries in the world?” But to my surprise, people I came across were quite shocked to hear that my quest had led me there even though when I asked them to rate their own personal happiness on a scale of one to ten, I almost always got back an eight or nine. Some of the Swiss say it must be because of the cleanliness and structure that is inevitable in everything from toilets to fashion to government. Others claim that their source of happiness is the lack of envy that exists within society. They claim that envy is happiness’s greatest enemy; coincidently they will do almost anything not to bring themselves into the limelight which is extremely contrary to standard American culture. Also in stark contrast to American culture is the Swiss way of life in general. Americans are known for their need for adrenaline and rushes of excitement interspersed between their regular lives. The Swiss, on the other hand, find contentment in stillness, calm, and quite frankly utter boredom. Tranquility did bring me joy for a short time, but perhaps it was not my cup of tea. I was excited to experience my next version of happiness, all the way in Bhutan.

The Netherlands: Happiness is a Number

My hotel(Hotel aan de Maas) in Rotterdam

A lovely picture of the Netherlands' countryside

I decided to commence my journey in the land of the Dutch, the Netherlands. Listening to Dutch being spoken outside my hotel was a peculiar experience to say the least- it sounds exactly like English spoken backwards. My hotel is located in the city of Rotterdam, which serves as a large disappointment for the kickoff city on my quest to uncover the happiest place in the world. You can almost feel the Dutch/Muslim tension walking the streets here in the depressingly dank, gray weather. Now, you might ask: Why would you decide to come here at all, much less begin your journey here? Well, within the Netherlands in my Holy Grail: the World Database of Happiness (WDH). This facility houses an extensive collection of scientific data regarding the intricate and complicated relationship between human nature and happiness. Here, I discover that every country values happiness, but not necessarily in the same degree. Countries in East Asia think of happiness in terms of harmony and the ability to fulfill one's obligation to society. Perhaps this is why people residing in this area consistently report lower levels of happiness; thus the East Asian Happiness Gap makes perfect sense. The least blissful countries in the world are all African, and if not at the absolute bottom of the totem pole of happiness, they can only reach a lower-middle ranking- proving that both poverty and lack of necessities greatly effects one's happiness levels. The absolute lowest level of happiness (on a scale of one to ten) ever recorded in human history was the Dominican Republic in 1962 with an unbelievable 1.6. This is especially staggering considering the average level of happiness worldwide falls somewhere between a five and an eight. But I had had enough of unhappy; it was time to move on. I had constructed my road map to happiness from my observations at the WDH and was beyond ready to go.