How Happy Are You?

Please don't mock my attempt at creating an eye-catching title, but I think it's the best I could come up with and it certainly serves the primary purpose of this article. Now we are back in the theme of happiness, something that humanity seems to never get tired of seeking and discussing – and it's for an obviously good reason.

We humans naturally gravitate towards happiness and the feeling that we are on top of the world is just indescribable, in positive ways. Think about beatific smiles, the state of being free of worries, painlessness, the absence of threats, and the list goes on and on. I strongly believe that Heaven, as described by many or most religions, is a "physical" manifestation of this quality. Every once in a while I can't help but muse on my own level of happiness. How happy am I? On a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being not happy at all and 10 perfectly happy, where would I put myself? I think it is healthy to ask ourselves this kind of question as a form of self-assessment of our own contentment with our own life. So where do I stand on this simply made happiness scale?

If I had to rate my own happiness by this means, I would put myself somewhere between 8 and 8.5. Pretty good score, right? I may not be a billionaire like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, but I do have all my bare necessities, which Stoicism considers to be a requisite for happiness. I have a home, I can eat three times a day, I can go to the doctor if falling sick, and so on and so forth. And that's actually enough for me not to fall into the category of non-happy people – and this should work for other people too.

In addition to the fulfilled basic needs, there are things that added to my happiness score. I possess enough savings for an emergency fund, giving me a sense of security for when the universe is being mischievous and not on my side. I also have a job that really fits one of my greatest passions: English. What's more, my dream of having my own library has been achieved! (Due to limited space, I cannot buy another bookcase and I have switched to buying Kindle books. Here's hoping for a bigger home!) All these and others of the same kind certainly cranked up my happiness level and I am truly grateful for these life blessings, which not all people have the privilege of having.

It is true that life can be tough and things often don't go the way you want. This can cause one's level happiness to drop unnecessarily. Why? One simply must realize that most events in life happen outside their control. Stressing about these things will only lead to unhappiness or even depression. Many people probably, more often than not, sweat over things that they do not have influence over, which is a good recipe for misery. We ought to focus on what we can control and rightly ignore what we can't. This Stoic notion is also what keeps me sane in my day-to-day life and contributes to how happy I am. (Check out Stoicism for Inner Peace by Einzelgänger for a wonderful resource for learning about Stoicism.)

You may be wondering, "How about the remaining 1–1.5? What would make you 'fully' happy?" I think it is a tough nut to crack. Is there anybody who has achieved the state of absolute happiness? I may well have to shake hands with my idol Jay Chou and spend an hour talking about music and life with him in order to to attain such bliss. In the meantime, I will just keep my expectations low and make the most of my life every second. How about you? How happy are you? 😊