Happiness is a universal concept; the difference lies in how people define it. The really hard part is to actually find it. Happiness has become the subject of serious scientific studies. More than 3,000 scientists around the world are conducting research into the subject. Is there a secret key to happiness? And why is it so important anyway?

Let’s start with the bad news: there is no such thing as a key to happiness, but there are my different ways of becoming happy. Author Leo Bormans appears to have found one of them: his book Geluk, The World Book of Happiness sold out in Flanders in four days. His guide to happiness went on sale in the Netherlands this week, and will eventually be translated into English, French and German.

A hundred scientists from 50 countries writing from their own areas of expertise have made contributions to the book. No woolly language, no individual success stories, but knowledge based on research put down in no more than 1,000 words.

DIY
Some people find happiness in a good relationship, others in a long walk in the woods or a fat bank account. Happiness is not a butterfly accidentally alighting on your shoulder. The surprising message is that you can work on it. The time-honoured notion that a person needs to suffer and be an upstanding citizen to earn happiness can be put out with the trash. There is nothing wrong with finding your own happiness.

No less than 40 percent of our sense of happiness and optimism is determined by our outlook on life and the choices we make. Another 50 percent is determined by genetic factors and ten percent is purely circumstantial. According to Leo Bormans, “sitting outside enjoying the sunshine, is not the same as making the observation that the sun is shining. It’s what a person does with that information that determines whether it makes them happy”.

Economic crisis
Happiness is hot. The extent to which people need happiness has everything to do with the economic crisis. “We thought that if we got richer, we would also become happier, but that is not the case.” There is a reason why France and China – the latest in a long list of countries – have introduced a happiness index. An instrument to gauge the state of the environment and the quality of life and well-being. According to Mr Bormans, in the end it’s not individual happiness that matters most, but the happiness of groups, schools, companies and countries. He argues that the West has a lot to learn from the East, and vice versa. Mr Bormans hopes his book will eventually spark a Movement for Happiness.

And those among us who feel depressed need not despair: they are under no obligation to be happy. “We are all entitled to our grief and our pain. The question is whether we are satisfied with the life that we lead. The kind of satisfaction which will spark something new through active optimism. It may sound vague, but it’s backed by scientific evidence.”