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Geneva, Switzerland — What is the happiest place? Last week in its annual “World Happiness Report,” the United Nations reported that Switzerland was No. 1. The United States ranked No. 15, and the African country of Togo came in last, at number 158. Switzerland is arguably the world’s most successful country — and most improbably so. It is landlocked and without much in the way of natural resources. It has four official languages, many different religious groups, and is surrounded by warring neighbors. Yet, it has remained an island of peace and prosperity. The last armed conflict on Swiss territory...

An international team of economists, neuroscientists, and statisticians just released their third World Happiness Report, which measures well-being in countries around the world to help guide public policy. Switzerland topped the list of the happiest nations, and all of the top eight countries were in the global north. Switzerland was followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The United States ranked 15th, behind Mexico and Austria. Still, that's a slight improvement from the last report, in which the US ranked 17th. The World Happiness Report isn't without a scientific basis. One of its key findings, based...

Pharrell Williams spoke to the UN General Assembly on International Day of Happiness according to the Daily Mail. At least, that is what the headline of the article is supposed to make you think.

When it comes to happiness, Latin America must be onto something. Gallup surveyed people in 143 countries to rank the happiest nations, and found that the entire top 10 were found in Latin America. Paraguay scored the top spot, and Colombia, Ecuador, and Guatemala all tied for second. Meanwhile, the least-happy nations were all found to be in the Middle East and North Africa. (See below for the top 10 and bottom 10 countries in the ranking.) For the survey, Gallup developed a “happiness score” for each country based on responses from survey participants, who were asked if they had...

Alaska has been named the happiest and healthiest state in the nation. In 2013, the Last Frontier state held the eighth position on the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. One year later, the state climbed to the top of the list for the first time since 2008. To compile the list, researchers interviewed 176,000 United States residents. Each participant was asked to rate their happiness and health on a scale of 0 to 100. The categories include social life, financial stability, physical well-being, community involvement, and purpose in life.

Jonny Quest 20 The Invisible Monster

11 Unexpected Facts Proven by Science That Can Make Your Life Happier and Exciting Spend time with friends and family. Be sure to exercise. Get enough sleep.Scientists have long known that these and other familiar strategies really can boost your mood. But recent research has revealed several not-so-obvious links to happiness, including everything from the ambient temperature to your political views.Some are causal links, others just interesting associations. But keep reading for some surprising facts that may have you rethinking your pursuit of happiness. 1. Make sure the temperature is right. Research has shown a clear link between warm weather...

We are what we think. These seven popularly held beliefs are causing you unnecessary misery 1. Lust and love are the same 2. The more money you have, the happier you will be 3. Any dream can come true, if you want it badly enough 4. Perfection is good 5. My happiness is more important than yours 6. Success is permanent 7. Hope is not a strategy (content snipped out, check article for explanations)

We all want to be happy, don’t we? Well, if you’re dissatisfied, frustrated or downright miserable, cheer up. There’s apparently a cure for you. Even better, it will materialize automatically. Just sit and wait; the very anticipation of its arrival might improve your spirits. The remedy: getting older. It’s counterintuitive. In our mind’s eye, old age is to be endured as much as enjoyed. People fear declining health, growing dependence and increasing social isolation. But on average, they also count themselves happier. Consult public opinion surveys, and that’s what you find. Almost 40 percent of Americans 65 and older rated themselves...

While the wealthy who live in advanced economies say they are happier with their life situation, those living in emerging economies are close to the same level of satisfaction, according to a new Pew Research Center report. The survey asked respondents of 43 nations to measure their happiness on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 represents the highest rung of life's ladder. Those who answered between 7 and 10 were counted as being happy. Mexico, a country plagued with crime and corruption, had the overall highest score in the survey, measuring in at 79% satisfaction in life. Mexico's...

God has always existed, and He was perfectly fine without man. He always was, is and will always be. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were already having a good time together. Everything they do is good and fulfilling, and so they didn't need man in order to be complete. Nevertheless, God chose to create man and, through worship, allow him to get in on the joy. Man tends to think in wrong ways about this entire arrangement. Man is prone to assume that it's all about him. How foolish of man. It's always been about God, and...

Women’s mags—at least the ones that line supermarket check-out counters—seem obsessed with the euphoria-producing properties of sex and fine chocolates. Men’s mags seem focused on the latest coolest stuff that will make them desired by women and envied by men. A new study suggests both men and women might be better off looking into...scrapbooking. An Opinion Matters study surveyed 2,040 adults in the United Kingdom, and found that 80% of respondents “were happiest when reminiscing about old times with friends and family.” Chocolate (at 17%) and “even sex (38%)” fell behind reminiscing (45%) in providing “a greater, more prolonged...

A recently recorded video is circulating online of Victoria Osteen, wife of megachurch speaker and author Joel Osteen, calling on congregants at Lakewood Church to ‘do good for your own self’ because obedience, the church and worship are not for God as much as for self-happiness. “I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we’re not doing it for God—I mean, that’s one way to look at it—we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy,” she declares in the undated 36-second clip with her husband standing by her side...

Happiness is not equally distributed across the United States.A recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper by Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser, University of British Columbia economics professor Joshua Gottlieb, and Harvard graduate student Oren Ziv tracks how people's self-perceived happiness varies among American cities.The researchers used data from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an extensive survey coordinated by the CDC that tracks health behaviors and risk factors. One of the questions on the survey asks respondents how satisfied they are with their lives, with the four options of "very dissatisfied", "unsatisfied", "satisfied", and "very satisfied". This...

Thursday, July 03, 2014 Remember Your Right to Happiness Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Revolutions are not unique. Some countries have revolutions all the time until revolution becomes their national sport. In banana republics the overthrow of one dictator to make way for another gives everyone a day off from work. These revolutions, no matter how they are cloaked in the familiar rhetoric of liberty, are nothing more than tyranny by other means. What made the American Revolution unique was that its cause was not the mere transfer of power from one ruler to another or...

Original article was published by The Daily Beast earlier this month. If you don't care to go to the original, these are the top 10: Texas A& M Stanford University University of Wisconsin Florida State University University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill University of Florida Brigham Young University University of Georgia University of Texas, Austin Kansas State University

Fire, brimstone, eternal suffering — hell is not a pleasant concept. But research has pointed to the societal benefits of a belief in supernatural punishment, including higher economic growth in developing countries and less crime. But there are also drawbacks, even in this life. A new study links believing in hell, and perhaps even thinking about it, with lower levels of happiness and satisfaction in life. "It seems there is this trade-off," said Azim Shariff, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. In research published in January in PLOS ONE, Shariff and a colleague looked at international...

Beneath these averages are some demographic differences. For many years, researchers found that women were happier than men, although recent studies contend that the gap has narrowed or may even have been reversed. Political junkies might be interested to learn that conservative women are particularly blissful: about 40 percent say they are very happy. That makes them slightly happier than conservative men and significantly happier than liberal women. The unhappiest of all are liberal men; only about a fifth consider themselves very happy.

Many married couples cite the birth of their first child as the happiest day of their lives; but childless couples are in fact more happily married than those who have children, a study has found. The project has found that people without children are more satisfied with their relationships and more likely to feel valued by their partner. The study, by the Open University, involved interviews and surveys with more than 5,000 people of all ages, statuses and sexual orientations. When people were asked to rate the quality of their relationship those without children emerged as happier overall. […] Yet...

The head of the think-tank where I work believes he has discovered the secret of happiness, and he wants to share it with everyone. Don’t worry: I’m not in a cult... Once basic material needs are met, though, satisfying work matters more than money. What people want is not just success, but also “earned success” — the feeling that one’s efforts have paid off. In a recent talk, Brooks cited a 1978 study in which lottery winners were slightly less happy six months after they hit the jackpot... Over the last 40 years, women who describe themselves as “conservative” have...