America is a very happy place, Investor's Business Daily points out.
"Most Americans say they are generally happy, with a slim majority saying they are 'very happy,' " according to the Gallup Poll released on the final day of 2007. "More than 8 in 10 Americans say they are satisfied with their personal lives at this time, including a solid majority who say they are 'very satisfied.' "
Another extensive survey conducted in 2007 by the Pew Research Center found that 65% of Americans termed themselves "satisfied" with their lives. That compares with the four economic powerhouses of Britain, France, Germany and Italy, which averaged about 53%.
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As economist Irwin Stelzer recently noted, "teenage drug use, pregnancies, smoking and drinking are all on the decline; welfare reform is working, bringing down child poverty, and the divorce rate is falling."
Oh, and we're having more babies than at any time since the 1970s — not something that a gloomy, depressed society does.
If Americans are happier than ever, the Brits are not. Over the New Year, the London Ambulance Service received an emergency call every 8 seconds, the great majority related to binge drinking.
50 years ago, 50% of Brits said they were very happy. Today, only about a third say that.
The Harvard Professor of Happiness Tal Ben Shahar gave them some advice in the Guardian on Cheering Up
1. Give yourself permission to be human and to feel the full range of human emotion including the painful ones.
2. Simplify your life. Do less, enjoy more.
3. Exercise regularly.
Michael Babyak and his colleagues at Duke University medical school, for example, showed that exercising three times a week for 30 minutes each time was as helpful for patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder as taking an antidepressant.
4. Focus on the positive.
The question we need to ask ourselves is: must things get worse before we recognise how wonderful life was? Do we need something negative to happen to us, a tragedy, to appreciate life? The answer is "no" if we make gratitude a way of life - because to be grateful for something is the opposite of taking it for granted