Finding happiness

Being in motion on a long hike makes me happy. Here I am at a camp on Mt. Kili.

Figuring out  and finding happiness has consumed me lately.  I’ve been reading a lot about it. What makes us happy?  As far as I can tell, what makes us happy is a series of contradictions.  You need a stable government, unless you live in Mexico and then apparently you are happy without one.  Earning more than $70,000 per year supposedly doesn’t lead to greater happiness according to statistics, except that in the very specific places where people are the most happy individual income is higher overall.  You need freedom, but one of the happiest towns in the United States has a lot of restrictions.

In all my reading and research I can pinpoint four things that seem to truly make people happy—good relationships, volunteering or doing good for others, a sense of purpose, and your perspective.

Here are just a couple tips, using the four points above as a reference, to try and increase your happiness quota:

  • Get together with good friends at regular intervals. Have a monthly dinner club, or book club, or […]