Happiness can't be measured, only felt

IS SINGAPORE the new Shangri-La? ('Sylvia Lim, PAP MPs spar over happiness gauge'; Tuesday). Well, everything is about trade-offs.

We should focus on what we are willing to give up in exchange for a happier life. Balance is key, so it boils down to the proportion of what we seek rather than a black-and-white issue.

We must also recognise that current arguments are coloured by materialism, which is transient and cannot guarantee happiness in the long term. Once we are comfortable with being moderately prosperous, we will be able to focus on family, friends, nation-building, self-worth, competence, autonomy, purpose, love, appreciation and acceptance.

That's being happier.

Our economic drivers will in turn change for jobs, immigration, productivity, technology, public policy and so on.

But the Gross Happiness Index is also something we need to be careful about.

Bhutan is inspiring but by no means a solution. We don't want to live like the Bhutanese, but we do want to be sustainably happy.

If we end up ranking countries on a happiness index, it becomes another scoreboard lifestyle.

Happiness cannot be measured but you can feel it. And you can be happy as long as you don't compare.

Jack Sim

ST Forum, 22 Oct 2011