Happiness is…

There’s a Tibetan Buddhist admonition to a worrywart: will the object of your concern matter in 100 years?

If not, part two of the admonition translates into “don’t worry, be happy” (in the words of US pop singer Bobby McFerrin).

The average Pinoy, not Buddhist but steeped in an exotic mélange of Catholic, Confucian and animist beliefs, internalized the theme of McFerrin’s song long before he wrote it. Some call it a positive outlook; others call it fatalism.

Our nearly 400 years under Spain and interactions with Mexicans through the galleon trade must have reinforced the attitude.

Today we rank eighth behind mostly former Spanish colonies in terms of happiness, if this is defined as a positive attitude toward life. The Associated Press reported that Gallup Inc. asked about 1,000 people in each of 148 countries last year “if they were well-rested, had been treated with respect, smiled or laughed a lot, learned or did something interesting and felt feelings of enjoyment the previous day.”

The top 10 most positive were people in Panama, Paraguay, El Salvador, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Guatemala, the Philippines, Ecuador and Costa Rica. The least positive were Singaporeans, who also emerged in another Gallup poll last month as the least emotional people in the world. (The most emotional? Pinoys – although this is no indicator of happiness.)

When it comes to more quantifiable quality of life indicators such as health care, job security, government corruption and political freedom, Pinoys don’t fare too well.

Those indicators were included in the first-ever World Happiness Report, launched by the United Nations earlier this year. Published by Columbia University’s Earth Institute, the 158-page report was commissioned for the UN’s Conference on Happiness. The study is supposed to be an improvement on previous ones linking happiness mainly to income.

Based on a “life evaluation score,” affluent countries topped the list of the world’s happiest. Denmark led the pack of 155 countries, followed by Finland, Norway and the Netherlands. Those ranked lowest were Benin, Central African Republic, Togo and Sierra Leone. The Philippines ranked 105th.

In 2006, the UK’s New Economics Foundation (NEF) launched its own Happy Planet Index or HPI, which gives weight to sustainability and environmental concerns rather than GDP and human development indicators. The HPI, according to its website, is “the leading global measure of sustainable well-being (and) measures what matters.”

Costa Rica topped the HPI this year, followed by several developing countries including Nicaragua, ranked by the US State Department as the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

The ranking is reached by multiplying average life expectancy in a country by a so-called “Experienced Well Being” or quality of life on a scale of 0 to 10. The total is then divided by the “ecological footprint” – the amount of land required to meet the country’s per capita consumption.

The Philippines ranked 25th out of 151 countries ‑ not bad, despite a middling overall score of 52.4. Wealthy nations didn’t rate well because of what the NEF considered their heavy ecological footprint. We’re ahead of New Zealand, which placed 28th. (The clean and green Kiwis may dispute the ranking, although methane from their 40 million cows probably pulled them down). We’re also ahead of the UK (41st), France (50th), China (60th), Canada (65th), Australia (76th) and the United States (105th).

Bhutan, for its part, famously introduced “Gross National Happiness” in 1972 to measure its people’s well being. The GNH, coined by Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, is based on four pillars: sustainable development, conservation of the natural environment, good governance, and preservation of cultural values.

Our country will probably rank low in all those pillars, but Pinoys face life with a generally more positive attitude than people from many other countries.

The attitude is striking especially among the very poor and victims of disasters. Hungry, jobless and destitute, Pinoys still smile and thank the heavens for little mercies, and hope tomorrow will be a better day. During floods in Metro Manila, children happily frolic in the muddy water. After powerful earthquakes, our first impulse is to laugh and give thanks for our survival.

I’ve heard Pinoys say that life is too short to wallow in worrying. Religious devotion plus the extended family system also provide a strong support network for dealing with life’s tribulations.

Some say (usually with a sneer) that we are so easily pleased – mababaw ang kaligayahan.

Also, the downside to always looking on the bright side is that it can weaken the urge to make things better. Necessity, it has been said, is the mother of invention. Discontent leads to change, to the development of goods, services and systems that improve the quality of life.

Considering the ranking of advanced economies in the study on positive outlook, there could be a direct link between attitudes and the level of social and economic development. It helps to stop smiling once in a while and shout to the world (as Peter Finch’s Howard Beale character did in “Network”) that we’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take this anymore!

On the other hand, what good is wealth if you’re unhappy? As one immensely wealthy guy unhappy with his home life once sighed to me, “I’m rich but I feel poor.”

There’s a lot to be said for a positive outlook, and Pinoys should feel blessed for it. Maybe we have an inordinate amount of endorphins, the happy hormone released during sex and when eating spicy food and chocolate (among other things).

Whatever the reason for our positive attitude, we should be happy to be considered among the happiest people on the planet. It’s in keeping with the season’s spirit of celebrating life.

A joyous Christmas to all!