The Keys To Happiness

    In Eric Weiner’s, The Geography of Bliss, it is evident that there are many different paths to happiness. Happiness is an abstract term, which is greatly dependent on the individual. The subjectivity of the term allows for different interpretations of what happiness is: one person’s happiness is another’s misery; one person’s pain is another person’s triumph. Many would argue that there is basic formula for happiness that consists of: economic stability, security, and love. Where you live also plays a big a role to your happiness, as location is often conducive to certain factors. Despite the fact it is nearly impossible to quantify happiness, because happiness is temporary and the level of my happiness changes daily, I would give my happiness score a six. I would give my happiness a score of six because although I am in agreement with others that financial and physical security are essential to happiness, I believe that where I have lived has imbued the importance of perspective and balance as being factors paramount to happiness.

     There’s no getting around it, money matters. Money motivates us, it governs our actions, money makes us do things we thought we’d never do, and money, whether we like it or nor, contributes to our happiness. Although money it is important in order to buy the certain necessities that one needs in order to live a comfortable life, I believe that too much money and striving to attain too much money can often lead to ruin and that is why balance is crucial. When Weiner travels to Qatar to search for what makes people happy, he find a materialistic society in which wealth governs happiness, which returns us to the age old question that Weiner brings up, “If money can buy happiness, or at least rent it for a while, then surely Qatar, by some measures the wealthiest country in the world, must also be the happiest” (Weiner 97). Through Qatar’s great leaps in infrastructure and economic growth, they have been able to create a city from the sand, in which they try to compensate for the lack of culture by building malls, five star hotels, and attractions like the Grand Prix. When alluding to a “ridiculously expensive pen” that he received in Qatar but lost in London, he answers the question if wealth can buy happiness, “its joys were illusionary, a mirage in the desert” (140). I believe that I have been able to avoid, for the most part, wealth governing my happiness is because I have realized from the current economic conditions that it can all be taken away from you in an instant. You may be driving a Maserati one day but you can easily be driving a taxi cab another and that is why balance in any endeavor is essential to happiness.

    I often take heed in the idea that there is no pleasure without pain and accordingly there can be no happiness without some sort of misery or what I like to call perspective. Being of Indian descent and traveling to India yearly, I can tell you that one thing that India does not have a paucity of is perspective. As Weiner points out, “If you want to know India, just stand on a street corner, and spin 360 degrees. You will see it all. The best and worst of humanity” (297).  I find that whenever I return from trips to India I am a happier person. I appreciate things at home that would not normally make me happy but they do: the cleanliness, the absence of deadlock traffic, and the more moderate climate. I love India and going back yearly but even after two weeks I can get tired of small imperfections. Similarly to Weiner I feel the same contradiction every time I about to depart from the New Delhi airport, “I am relieved to be leaving this craziness behind. I want to stay” (306).

    Location can also play a large role in determining one’s happiness. As Weiner points out, if one were to live in an obscure country like Moldova, their chances of being happy would be significantly lower than if that person lived in Qatar or Bhutan because different societies are more likely to have certain aspects more. For example, Bhutan definitely has more of a spiritual society than that of Qatar and the chances of being wealthy were to be far greater if one lived in Qatar rather than Bhutan. Although there can be many different factors that can determine happiness, I believe that the most important qualities are perspective and balance. Finding a middle state of life is very important in which rather than strenuously attaining a goal you live a balanced life in which you can experience multiple aspects of life.