Where do you think the happiest place in the world is? I know many would say Disney World.
I read an interesting article a while back that Forbes.com published on the world and our happiness.
“Taking all things together on a scale of one to 10, how happy would you say you are?”
With that question and global surveys, the folks at the World Database of Happiness have ranked 95 nations on a happiness scale.
Switzerland’s citizens closely trail the Danish, each reporting an average happiness level of 8.1 (out of 10), followed by Iceland (7.8), Finland (7.7), Australia (7.7) and Sweden (7.7), all the way down to grim Moldova (3.5).
Veenhoven’s research shows that Scandinavian nations come out on top, making up five of the 13 happiest nations. Denmark tops the list as a whole — its citizens rank their average happiness as 8.2 on a 10-point scale.
Wondering where America falls on the list? We ranked 17th. Why so low? The authors of the study cite, “Americans work longer hours and commute greater distances than virtually any other people in the world.” Maybe so, but is that really an excuse?
Francis de Sales wrote, “The evil one is pleased with sadness and melancholy because he himself is sad and melancholy, and will be so for all of eternity. Hence he desires that everyone should be like himself.”
These days I’m trying to focus more on joy than happiness.
Happiness is something that happens to you while joy is something you can choose.
Happiness is external while joy is internal.
So how about you? Are you choosing joy these days? Are you looking for opportunities to be thankful regardless of where you might live or what might be going on?
