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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

Unhappy Man Has Fun Seeking Happy Place

Author, Eric Weiner, is mired in the bad-news business of journalism.  
As a correspondent for National Public Radio he has reported from  
Miami, New Delhi, Jerusalem, Afghanistan, Tokyo, and Iraq. He has  
covered wars and conflicts. He has won awards for coverage of Islamic  
issues in Asia and the tobacco industry in the U.S. He has focused on  
a lot of bad stuff--which often seems the modern definition of news.  
It is no wonder that he openly cops to being unhappy.

Weiner’s quest here is to find a place and conditions that might cheer  
him up. He apparently considers only slightly the fact that any place  
he goes, he takes his unhappy self with him. The sub-title, One  
Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World, sets the stage.

Can the conditions of place cause or at least contribute to happiness?  
My personal experience and letters from readers says yes. I confined  
my search to the contiguous 48 states; travelholic Weiner takes us to  
nine more countries.

First to The Netherlands and the World Database of Happiness to learn  
what Ruut Veenhoven, “the godfather of happiness research” knows. On  
to Switzerland, where the natives feel more than contentment but less  
than joy. Thence to Bhutan, where the king has proclaimed Gross  
National Happiness; Qatar, where each new husband gets a $7,000  
monthly allowance, a building lot and a no-interest home loan;  
Iceland, where we learn that colder is happier; Moldova, “the least  
happy nation on the planet” according to Veenhoven’s data; Thailand,  
where keeping the long view of life creates much joking and laughter;  
Great Britain, where culture hinders happiness; India, a destination  
happy place; and then back home to Miami, where all that sunshine  
leaves our author cold.

We learn that money wealth gives but a small edge. America is the  
richest country the world has ever known, yet our self-help  
bookshelves sag. As poet-laureate, Charles Simic, noted in a recent  
interview: “It’s an industry. It’s really frightening. People need to  
read a book on how to be happy? It’s completely an American thing.”

Lucky for we readers, Weiner (pronounced whiner, poor guy) has a happy  
sense of humor that has survived the negative focus of journalism. The  
Geography of Bliss is a fun read, a lively travelogue of ideas, a mind  
tickler, a book that fulfills its purpose.

What I take from this entertaining tome is that a myriad of factors  
contribute to happiness: society, culture, community, biophilia,  
relationships, belonging, trust, openness, creativity, action,  
flexibility, unpredictability, altruism, a healthy balance of  
comparative feelings, hedonism, but not too much, and money, but just  
a bit. And, yes, place--if it allows these things.

On my writing studio wall is a framed piece of calligraphy that sums  
it up for me. It reads: “The grand essentials to happiness in this  
life are something to do, someone to love and something to hope  
for.” (Joseph Addison—1672-1719)