Good afternoon everybody, id like to introduce to you our team: this is my friend Dominika and my name is Bartek, we are your class mates as you probably noticed and what we prepared for today is a presentation concerning simple and at the same time complicated topic which is Happiness in the world. We devided our presentation on several subtopics: 1. What do we call happiness 2. Happiness all over the world 3. Happiness as an only proper direction in life 4. Some facts about the impact of happiness on our life
1. Hapiness, the world which has been repeated in this presentation many times, is a state of mind, where most of your needs, demands are fulfilled. I don’t mean just a need such as ‘I want to eat pizza’ after this you probably won’t be more satisfied than before, but I’d like to refer to Maslov hierarchy of needs. [short description of hierarchy + kanapka vs smartphone] When each layers are accomplished, and here I have to add, that it is very individual case, we can truly claim ‘I’m happy man’. 2So ,who are the happiest people in the world?
In Top 10 World’s Happiest Countries Norway takes the crown followed by Denmark and Sweden . The next are Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the last one is Ireland . What’s Norway got that the rest of the world doesn’t? A stunning GDP per capita and the second-highest level of satisfaction with their standards of living. Now, I will tell you about the Happy Planet Index (HPI) which is a measure of human well-being and environmental impact . According to that, Costa Ricans are the happiest and live the longest .
Seven of the top 10 countries are in Central America or the Caribbean. However, typical happy front runner Denmark is ranked 110th. And what is GNH ? You may think it is just another statistically based term with no real life application, but it refers to “Gross National Happiness. ” It measures people’s quality of life, and makes sure that “material and spiritual development happen together. ” Bhutan has done an amazing job of finding this balance and has been ranked as the happiest country in all of Asia, and the eighth Happiest Country in the world.
In 2007, this small country in the Himalaya Mountains, accessebile only by two airplanes had the second fastest growing GDP in the world, which is really surprising. As a curosity, I want to tell you about Uganda that is ranked the happiest nation in East Africa and the question is; with all this poverty, why are Ugandans the happiest nation? Some proffesor said that “50 percent of our happiness is determined by our genes and the other 50 percent is determined by other circumstances of life” so Ugandans have made better use of their 50 percent than other nations .
Secondly, considering Uganda’s historical past and economic situation, Ugandans seem to have very low expectations from their government and that makes them less disappointed. Summing up, happiness is a choice and Ugandans have made the choice to be the happiest. When I ask people what their target considering some future plans is, they say I want to graduate from studies, I want to have a car, I want to set up a family, I want to lift 100kg on chest and so on. In fact, every single answer is correct, as long as it has crucial basics, which I would like you to pay attention to.
These are just simple reactions, results of doing, purchasing, getting those things. If it is a car, that will bring a happiness with itself, probably not because its usage, but rather because the fact, that it would be a tangible proof, that our work, efforts have successed. Examples that I listed, are very frequent stereotypes, that the world is trying to implement in our mindsets. The very important question, as simple as it is, but hardly ever answered honestly is what would make me happy? Then do it, perfect! Someone could call this selfishness, but then I would state, that helping people is also egoistic.
Seems contradictory? Look, when we help someone else, it is followed by our satisfaction, feeling fulfilled, that we are good people, we improve the world. Do you know anybody, who help someone and does not get some moral benefits? I do not and I would argue if someone do so, even if it would be true, this person wouldn’t be happy and as a result this wouldn’t be made as it should. Selfishness and egoisms sound negatively, but unfortunately nobody invented its positive equivalent, so lets call it indirect selfishness.
What I want to aware you, that the quotation ‘if you don’t love yourself you can’t love someone else’ or paraphrases like ‘if you want to improve the world start with yourself’ refer to many aspects of life. Taking what i’ve just said into account, I will form a statement that ‘if you want to make someone happy, you have to share this emotion’. 4. Now, I will tell you some interesting facts The first one is that happier countries tend to be richer countries. The second one is that over time as living standards have risen, happiness has increased in some countries.
On average, the world has become a little happier in the last 30 years I think that it’s worth mentioning that unemployment causes as much unhappiness as bereavement or separation. It’s not surprising that behaving well makes people happier and that mental health is the biggest single factor affecting happiness in any country. Stable family life and enduring marriages are also important for the happiness of parents and children. In advanced countries, women are happier than men, while the position in poorer countries is mixed. The last fact is that happiness is the lowest in middle age.
