Just last week while I was walking around at the NUS campus, one girl stopped me and asked if I can spare her five minutes. Surveys, I thought. So I said okay, thinking that I just have to fill up some form. But no, she started explaining about this campaign her team is doing. Knowing that this would take more than 5 minutes, I begin to prepare excuses in my mind to leave, when I suddenly caught a phrase she was saying – The Happiness Revolution (THR).
I almost laughed. What is happiness? To me, that word hardly exist because I classify time into only two categories: good and bad. The only difference is the proportion of it. Even if there were moments where I felt happy, it was difficult to stay happy – at least that’s what I thought. So for as long as I had breathed the good and bad days, I only dared to strive for the absence of negative emotions.
But the girl was sincere and earnest in her efforts in getting my interest in THR. So I found myself following her to the booth, and begin to learn what THR is all about. It was then that I realised how simple it is to include happiness in my dictionary.
1. Happiness produces success, not the other way round.
Good grades, earning a pay rise, getting a better job – these successes are what that makes us happy and put smiles on our faces. Well guys, we have been deluded. Advances in neuroscience and psychology have shown that it is happiness that produces success, instead of the other way round.
Well yes, we do feel happy when we achieve success. But focusing on the happiness derived from success is one reason why staying happy is difficult; because all that joy disappears once failures slap you in the face. What we should do is to focus on being happy – because when we’re happy, our brains become more motivated, engaged, creative, energetic, resilient and productive. When these traits are transferred onto the things we do, it generates success just like a formula. You may not be able received that A on your report or the promotion you’ve been eying for; but whoever said success couldn’t be satisfaction and knowing that you’ve put in your very best? (See #2.)
2. Happiness is measured by what matters to us most.
An account of a meaningful day by Anonymous
In today’s world of materialism, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and unemployment have became the benchmarks of success. Basically, we all have been used to measuring happiness by tangibles (such as money and ownership of things) due to the loss of perspectives in the process of going after material gains.
According to Robert Kennedy, the problem with the economy as a measure of social progress is that it “measures everything except what makes life worthwhile”. This has made us slaves to economy, when it should be serving us. Economic situations is important, but only for a part of our lives – because the emphasis is the real issues of what matters to us most. You definitely don’t want to be the one who owns mansions and luxury cars to realize the huge loss you made giving up all those dreams and time you’ll never get back.
3. Happiness shouldn’t be about ignoring reality.
"For my big project metting on Friday, I’m going to come to the best possible decision while making everyone feel valued and respected"
No doubt, there will be situations where life seems bleak, and you wonder how on earth could you find the capacity to be happy when the negativities are right in your face, reminding how your horrible life is with each passing minute. So we do what we think is the next best thing – bury the unhappiness with alcohol, parties or preoccupation with other stuff.
We know the consequences of ignoring reality and how much it will hurt when everything hits back at us. But we still do it anyway for that moment where we can be happy by avoiding the devastation. Yes, reality isn’t pretty; but we can make a choice in graciously accepting the failures, and move forward by focusing on the good things. It is through this that we can overcome the fear of making mistakes and find hope in things we’ve yet to embarked on.
Now that you have a rough idea of how happiness is actually a way of life, your next question most probably would be: So what do I do to create this ‘happiness’ that you’ve been talking about? Well, THR would be more than happy to answer that question. Other than sharing information about what happiness is, THR shows how you can put the focus back on happiness with a series of simple tasks. Designed on a basis of scientific research, these tasks help create changes in your life and increase real, long-lasting happiness. Their last theme – Imagining the Future, will be released next week; and the best entries will be featured during their exhibition and book launch at SMRT Esplanade Xchange on 1-3 March, to conclude the end of their campaign.
There is nothing to lose but your chains; and you have a whole world to win. So join the revolution, and take happiness into your own hands.
About The Happiness Revolution
From left: Yea Shi, Agnessa, Yinren, Jeslynn
The Happiness Revolution (THR) is a movement for positive social change, beginning with the individual. This is brought to you by four students from Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communicaion and Information, who are dedicated to building happier lives for others.
For more information about the THR, visit THR website or their Facebook page. For further details, contact the team at thehappinessrevolution@gmail.com or follow them on twitter @thr_sg for the latest updates.
Image credits: THR
