The pursuit of happiness and the perfect life

Now that I am back from 14 months in Malawi, I often ask myself what I have brought back. What is it that will stick with me, what will I always remember?

Nkhotakota, Malawi - one of the poorest regions of one of the poorest countries in the world, at least in monetary terms. But still – what does that really mean for happiness? Does that make them miserable and unhappy? I would say no.

Today, 20 March, is the United Nations International Day of Happiness. I think it is worthwhile for us contemplate a bit more about happiness. We in the western world are overloaded with propaganda every day which in one way or another try to convince us that consumption is the key to happiness. There are millions of different products and services out there that will please us and entertain us, make us better looking and more popular. In order to consume, you need to have money. The ultimate freedom to consume you get only if you are rich. That is maybe why most people somehow choose to pursue monetary wealth – as a way to get to this ultimate freedom to choose on how to consume and thereby attain happiness. But is it so? Does it make you happy? I would say no.

This is what 14 months in Malawi has taught me: 

There is absolutely no relation between happiness and monetary wealth.

Before going to Malawi, some of my colleagues and friends back home in Norway considered me to be a kind of hippie. Mostly because of my dreadlocks I suspect, if it wasn’t for them I would probably just have been perceived as another average guy. Before going to Malawi I would probably have exressed it something like “There is not a strong relation between happiness and wealth”, but now I am getting to “absolutely no relation”. Is it so? Not completely unrelated maybe, but happiness is much more strongly related to other factors. The United Nations International Day of Happiness has proposed the following guidelines to have a happy life, based on a literature review of scientific publications on the topic of happiness:

More...

Let me try to analyze this in the context of my experiences from Norway and Malawi:

Factor	Average Norwegian answer	Score	Average Malawian answer	Score
Do things for others	I do things for myself so I can feel good. And nobody really needs my help anyway.	2	I mostly try to support my family and my community	5
Connect with people	Headphones on - leave me alone	2	Good morning! How are yooouuu!?!?	9
Take care of your body	I work out, I run Oslo Marathon, I do Birkebeineren on skis and bicycle, I do Zumba and crossfit	6	Walking to work, walking to get water, lots of manual work in the field – I keep active	6
Notice the world around you	No time for that - I'm busy	2	I have time, and not too much is happening anyway – so anything is interesting!	8
Keep learning new things	Plenty of opportunity for that in Norway	8	Limited opportunities for learning	2
Have goals to look forward to	Too many of them. Goals you said? No, they are deadlines	7	We focus on what's going on today, tomorrow is not so important - we are not there yet	3
Find ways to bounce back	No need to worry about that, that is the kommune’s responsibility	5	In Malawi you learn how to bounce back - sometimes you have to bounce back several times in one single day	7
Take a positive approach	Norwegians are more interested in criticizing than in being positive. An extremely good meal in Norway would be characterized as "not too bad" (ikke så verst)	2	If you can smile, then why don't you?	10
Be comfortable with who you are	Bombarded by propaganda about how you should be it is not easy and most Norwegians strive to be something they are not	2	Who else can I be, if not myself?	9
Be part of something bigger	What "something bigger" are you talking about?	1	I believe in God.	10
Average score	Norway	3.7	Malawi	6.9

Alas, we Norwegians are doomed to live in the unhappy pursuit of the perfect life. Malawians don’t really care, but they are happy anyway. And it has nothing to do with money.