“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”
- Aristotle
- Aristotle
UNDERSTANDING THE PROGRESS PARADOX
The paradox of progress can be explained as the fact that there are great advancements in technology, medicine and communication etc, over the past century, but this has created more problems for people to deal with, instead of making life easier. Researchers have found out that higher economy and consumerism leads to more stress as people work more and thereby are neglecting the basic human values on which society is bonded. Stress, anxiety and depression can go hand in hand thus influencing the quality of life that each one is experiencing in midst of a technologically and materialistically advancing world.
Everyone is finding Happiness in his/her own surroundings. Can one find happiness in an advanced and hi-tech surrounding or in an untampered spiritual environment? Well it all depends upon one’s conditioning with one’s environment and upbringing. But there was an interesting concept that was coined and practically introduced by the western educated, Bhutan’s former King, HM Jigme Singye Wangchuck, when he expressed that he was more concerned about his country’s ‘Gross National Happiness’ than its GDP! The concept of Gross National Happiness was developed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms as compared to the economically defined concept of Gross Domestic Product.
We try to strive for happiness at our personal level, but what if the government of a country too is striving for its citizen’s happiness? Unknown to the world, Bhutan is a hilly Himalayan nation situated between the two financially strong Asian giants, India & China. To maintain a work-life balance and a constant smile on its citizen’s face, the government policies in Bhutan are happiness-oriented! Spirituality is valued more than materialism here. It may all sound skeptical but the upward moving, happiness index of Bhutan, based on life-satisfaction, certainly raises an eyebrow in astonishment. It certainly makes one think about creating practical solutions for the progress paradox.
To sum up, Bhutan is considered as one of the happiest nations in the world, here is a video which will give you more insights to the reasons of Bhutan’s smile!
Original Article written by -Shraddha Sankulkar (Psychologist/Founder-Director Mind Matterz (A Psychological Guidance Unit)
The paradox of progress can be explained as the fact that there are great advancements in technology, medicine and communication etc, over the past century, but this has created more problems for people to deal with, instead of making life easier. Researchers have found out that higher economy and consumerism leads to more stress as people work more and thereby are neglecting the basic human values on which society is bonded. Stress, anxiety and depression can go hand in hand thus influencing the quality of life that each one is experiencing in midst of a technologically and materialistically advancing world.
Everyone is finding Happiness in his/her own surroundings. Can one find happiness in an advanced and hi-tech surrounding or in an untampered spiritual environment? Well it all depends upon one’s conditioning with one’s environment and upbringing. But there was an interesting concept that was coined and practically introduced by the western educated, Bhutan’s former King, HM Jigme Singye Wangchuck, when he expressed that he was more concerned about his country’s ‘Gross National Happiness’ than its GDP! The concept of Gross National Happiness was developed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms as compared to the economically defined concept of Gross Domestic Product.
We try to strive for happiness at our personal level, but what if the government of a country too is striving for its citizen’s happiness? Unknown to the world, Bhutan is a hilly Himalayan nation situated between the two financially strong Asian giants, India & China. To maintain a work-life balance and a constant smile on its citizen’s face, the government policies in Bhutan are happiness-oriented! Spirituality is valued more than materialism here. It may all sound skeptical but the upward moving, happiness index of Bhutan, based on life-satisfaction, certainly raises an eyebrow in astonishment. It certainly makes one think about creating practical solutions for the progress paradox.
To sum up, Bhutan is considered as one of the happiest nations in the world, here is a video which will give you more insights to the reasons of Bhutan’s smile!
Original Article written by -Shraddha Sankulkar (Psychologist/Founder-Director Mind Matterz (A Psychological Guidance Unit)