Every human being is longing for purpose, meaning and happiness. Happiness is one of the most complex phenomena in individuals and society. Scientific research and experience has taught us a lot about the factors that contribute to a state of happiness at the individual level. And intuitively, we very well know what makes us happy. Yet, in our daily lives, human beings are very difficult to manage. We often behave irrationally, procrastinate or simply act in a way that does not contribute to our well-being.
This irrational relation with happiness and well-being does not only apply to individuals, but also to society as a whole. In the end, a state has the purpose of protecting the security, quality of life and well-being of its people. In the US, the right to the pursuit of happiness is even guaranteed at the basis of the Declaration of Independence. And yet, states, like individuals, take so much illogical and even harmful actions.
We want to help our countries and our people achieve a state of happiness.
How? Not with vague blah blah – there are enough sites for that. Not by telling people how to find their inner selfs – there are enough self-help books and therapists who do that. We want to discover the state of happiness by exploring the vast body of research related to happiness and well-being. We’ll be sharing our reflections on this blog. The insights we collect will be combined with inspiring stories, intuitive knowledge about happiness and our own experiences. Via all these sources, we would like to show people, and societies, how they can act in a way that makes them happy.
Contributors
The blog is also open for contributions from other authors and bloggers. We are interested in what people who are passionate about happiness and well-being have to say. If you want to pitch an idea out of personal interest, get in touch via jasper -at- forastateofhappiness.com.
Note: while we are often approached for commercial articles, we do not take this type of (paid) posts. If you are an SEO/marketing expert with some kind of corporate agenda, we are probably not interested.
Jasper Bergink, Editor and author
In day time, Jasper works in regulatory affairs for a bank in the Netherlands. In evenings and weekends, he writes on happiness and well-being on For A State of Happiness and other publications. In 2015, he realised his dream to visit Bhutan, the home of Gross National Happiness.
Since the creation of the blog in 2013, Jasper regularly speaks and writes about happiness for other outlets. Among others, he spoke at TEDxLuxembourgCity, the Well-Being and Development Forum in Guadalajara, Mexico, and in events organised by the Danish Embassy in Belgium, Young Professional in Foreign Policy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and several companies.
For more about Jasper, visit www.about.me/bergink or follow him on Twitter: @jbergink
Wendy Bos, Co-founder
Wendy Bos completed a PhD in Medical Ethics and Philosophy at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. She blogged at www.wennie.nl.