Can you find happiness in a certain place? Would you move to that location to make yourself happy? Eric Weiner, an admittedly unhappy journalist, strives to answer these questions in his book “The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World.”
After years of reporting from war-torn worlds such as Iraq and Afghanistan, Weiner scoured the world from Switzerland to Moldova to find out what exactly constitutes happiness. What he soon realized is that there is no one correct answer and that every country has a different idea of what makes a person happy. Iceland, for example, and its inhabitants believe that failure is what makes them happy. While most Americans may not appreciate failure unless there is a happy ending, Weiner met Jared Bibler, a Boston local who moved to Iceland on a whim after an unexpected layover there. Jared loved the fact that he was given the freedom to try a new career. His previous work experience was in computer software but employers there didn’t flinch when he applied for banking jobs. Icelanders are not afraid to fail knowing that eventually everything will work out in the end.
If we want to uplift our sad moods, should we move to a different country like Jared? Weiner believes that it is possible but only if we are open to that new experience. In other words, we have to expect that there are other ways of thinking in this world and accepting a new perspective is all part of achieving happiness.
Weiner has the uncanny ability to convey all that he learned through self-deprecating and blunt humor. He is not afraid to make fun of himself or come right out and say the things most of us only think. Whether you are following him through a three-day session in an Indian ashram, where he’s not quite sure if he can survive there with the no-caffeine-rule, or applauding him for saving a bug’s life in his hotel room in Bhutan because he is reminded to do good for others, you will laugh and learn something valuable about the way happiness is perceived in other cultures. You may even start to get a little bit happier yourself. If it helped typically-depressed Weiner become more chipper, then it could help you, too.
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