The complex pursuit of happiness

BUILDING RESILIENCE FOR HAPPINESS

Mallika Naguran: I think we need to build inner resilience. Resilience means the ability to bounce back from hardship or a catastrophe and absorb disturbances.

So the way we go forward in attaining happiness is to look within (ourselves) and build inner and external resilience. We have to look for things that make us think positively.

For example, the ability to forgive, the ability to be gracious, the ability to learn from mistakes and the way we raise our children — (teaching them) that it’s perfectly all right to make mistakes.

Society has to transform as well ... to create societal resilience and, by that, I mean communities getting together to support one another.

One example I can give is community gardening, where people can come together, grow vegetables and fruit, and provide for one another.

Aiden Foo: I think you made the point earlier about the fact that the world is changing and society is changing — I think that is true.

One thing that never changes is that there will always be people who care for and love you, no matter who and where you are.

I think what is important in building this inner resilience is actually building up the capacity to show gratitude and appreciation, and whether or not that comes naturally, or can be practised or improved upon.

Roy Ngerng: We should also think about whether the social and political environments allow that to exist.

For example, studies have shown that, if we have higher income inequality, a society will have lower subjective well-being and less happiness, in that sense.

And, in Singapore, we work the longest hours among the developed countries and are paid the lowest wages.

So our work-life balance is essentially one of the lowest in the world.

Siok Kuan Tambyah: I want to also support Roy’s point that the socio-economic or political environment that we’re in has to support the building of resilience to ensure sustainable well-being and happiness in the long run.

So it’s not just the personal relationships and social networks. Those are strong, but even the way the Government is running the country — that has a very important effect on how Singaporeans feel about their well-being.

A HAPPINESS INDEX FOR SINGAPORE?

Siok Kuan: Well, maybe not an index, but a carefully selected basket of indicators that will help us track the well-being of Singaporeans over time.

All these issues that we talked about could be part of this basket of indicators.

We can take our cue from countries that have already done this, you know — Bhutan is one, (and there’s also) the OECD Better-Life Initiative.

For example, we can measure whether we have a certain education or literacy level.

But, of course, we also have to take into account the amount of stress that this has generated.

We talked about work-life balance; that’s what I would like to see — a very balanced perspective of different dimensions of well-being.

Aiden: Well, I’m not too sure whether or not I would actually go for KPIs (key performance indicators) ... if you talk about individual resilience, it’s very difficult to have a KPI for that, for example.

Also, people want to have a slower pace of life ... but the fact exists that the ability to achieve something you set out for, the competitive streak — that also adds to a level of happiness.

So we should not go away thinking that competition does not equate to happiness; or that competition is necessarily against happiness.

Roy: I am actually a bit wary about creating a “happiness index” because there are already a lot of such indexes around the world.

I’m also wary because we have created the Eden Index and that ranks Singapore the highest, but ... (other) indexes in the world ranked Singapore the lowest.

If we really want to look at indicators, research has already shown that fairness and income inequality — the ability to be treated fairly and equally, and the ability to have high income — are actually some of the factors that we need to look at.

Siok Kuan: We can definitely use the indicators that have already been developed and tested, but ... the important thing is to ask ourselves what happiness means to Singaporeans.

If we can do something that tracks our happiness over time using indicators that are important to us, I think that’s more important than saying: “How are we doing vis-a-vis the rest of the world?”.

GRACIOUSNESS AND HAPPINESS

Aiden: What probably makes people unhappy would also be a result of the circumstances they are in.

For example, I think it is much easier to be (unhappy when on a) crowded MRT (train), as compared to being on one which is relatively empty.

So these are also factors that I think we need to take into consideration when we’re thinking about how to make a population happier.

William Wan: There are things that are beyond our control.

I am more concerned about the things we can do something about, such as neighbourliness and taking the initiative to do something for someone else.

We are still within ourselves, in control of such situations, and we can make a difference.

And I think when we make a difference to other people’s lives, we are actually sharing happiness, and happiness will breed happiness.

So if we keep sort of looking inwards and complaining about the environment, and do nothing about it, nothing’s going to happen.

Mallika Naguran is a sustainability consultant and researcher with the National University of Singapore and founder of eco website Gaia Discovery. Roy Ngerng blogs at The Heart Truths. Dr Siok Kuan Tambyah is Senior Lecturer at the National University of Singapore’s Business School and co-author of Happiness and Wellbeing: The Singaporean Experience. Dr William Wan is General Secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement and the World Kindness Movement.