— But which one is Really True?

According to a new poll conducted in US by CivicScience, people in the US are six times more likely to say they are happy than unhappy.

Here are a few wise quotes about happiness from some big names.

Do their words ring true?

“Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.” 

― Charlotte Brontë

True.

As per the survey, married people consistently report being 20% happier than unmarried people. There’s some evidence that parents are happier than non-parents.

As is often said, sharing halves the sorrows and multiplies the joys.

“There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age.” 

– Victor Hugo

True.

People really do get happier as they get older. In the survey, people over 65 were 14 times more likely to be happy than unhappy. From the age of around 30, people report feeling progressively happier, on average. 

With age comes wisdom and contentment resulting in peace and happiness.

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” 

― Confucius

True.

The survey even found evidence that it may be better to be out of work than to be in a job that we hate. Although, it is obvious, neither situation is ideal.

When we are in a job that we love, we don’t look at the watch. We are enthusiastic and full of energy. It is no more a drudgery, where we do the job laboriously to somehow fill the time to get the wages, but an expression of love.

“Money may not buy happiness, but I’d rather cry in a Jaguar than on a bus.” 

— Françoise Sagan

True up to a point and that point in the US is around $100,000 in earnings per year. After that, more money seems to do little for happiness — indeed more may make us less happy.

People with vast wealth or fame can’t trust the motives of those surrounding them. They also fear losing their wealth through theft, loot, fraud, etc. Bigger the amount lost, results in more sorrow compared to losing small amount.

Money often brings unhappiness creating divisions within families when jealousy and greed arise. It is unfulfilled desires that would keep everyone on the path of sorrow and weaken close bonds and ties.

But if the choice is between crying sitting in a Jaguar and laughing sitting in a bus, then the latter is any day better. 

If we have enough money to have well-balanced nutritious diet, clothing according to the season, a reasonable dwelling place, fulfill family and social obligations, to take care of our health and to have an outing once in a while, then perhaps we have got enough.

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery — air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.” 

― Sylvia Plath

True

The closer we are to nature, the closer we are to our Real Self, which is of the nature of infinite, eternal bliss.  

Get out into nature, travel and explore. All were linked to higher levels of happiness in the poll. 

“Happy girls are the prettiest.” 

― Audrey Hepburn

Here if Audrey meant that looking happy increases attractiveness, then definitely true!

Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and famous preservers of good looks. A smile is the best cosmetic that can make a face pretty.

“It is not the outer glow that makes you beautiful and charming. It is the nature of thoughts, positive thoughts to be precise, that makes you beautiful and attractive.”

“To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” 

– Gautama, the Buddha

True.

Gautama, the Buddha says:

Health is the Greatest Gift….

Contentment the Greatest Wealth….

Faithfulness the Best Relationship….

….. And today, quite contrary

We earn wealth……

With the breach of faith

At the cost of health

This keeps contentment miles away…

“Without health there can be no happiness.” 

– Thomas Jefferson

 

More important and valuable than wealth is our health — both physical and psychological. 

“The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved – loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.”

– Victor Hugo