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Komdu Saell, Vertu Saell.


I'd love to tell you
I've been diving deep into the books
for the end of year exams and am too busy to write-

but with an irresistable book at hand,
I'm only wading at the poolside of those revision notes.

Grin.
I must tell you about
Eric Weiner's latest book

The Geography of Bliss -
The grumpiest man on the planet
goes in search of the
happiest place in the world

A New York Times bestseller,
this non-fiction book
reports on the happiest and unhappiest
countries and its cultures.

During Weiner's [whi-ner; now we know why its not easy to
shake off the grump]
pilgrimage to happiness,
he the cultural validators or key representatives
of countries like
Bhutan, Iceland, Switzerland [highest scorers in World's Happiness Index].

How do money, politics, govermnent systems, religion, education,
relationships, and
culture
affect the citizens' happiness?

These are the general findings of previous research Weiner wrote in his introduction:

Extroverts are happier
than introverts

Opitimists are happier
than pessismists

Married people are happier
than singles,
though people with children
are no happier
than childless couples

Republicans are happier
than Democrats

people who attend religious services are happier
than those who do not

people with college degrees are happier
than those without,
though people with
advanced degress are less happy
than those with just a BA

people with an active sex life are happier
than those without

women and men are equally happy
though women have a wider emotional range

having an affair will make you happy
but will not compensate for the
massive loss of happiness that
you will incur when your spouse finds out
and leaves you

people are least happy
when they're commuting to work [and school, I add!]

busy people are happier
than those with too little to do

wealthy people are happier than poor ones,
but only slightly.

Should we know all get married
but don't have kids?
Scrape the PhD program?

Hold it.

Weiner went deeper.

I'll be sharing more next few posts.
I better get back to my very exciting revision notes.

Have an appetizer:



Country: Iceland

Capital: Reykjavik

Population: 95,000 [what a fleaspeck of a nation];
you like Pirates of the Carribean?
Grin.
Icelandics are descendants of the Vikings.

Climate: A mega freezer that's shut in darkness almost round the clock;
they hardly see the sun;
it's a sun worshippers' hell and night owls' haven.



Culture: Exceptionally creative;
produces the most artists, writers, musicians and poets per capita

According to the World's Database of Happiness,
Iceland consistently ranks as
one of the happiest countries in the world.
In some surveys,
it ranks number one.


Language is the tabernacle of culture to Icelandics.

Their formal greeting says it all -

komdu saell: come happy

Their goodbyes -

vertu saell: go happy

Now,
as I 'go happy' with my revision,
I wish you
'go happy'
rest of Thursday.


[images from reykjaviklooks]

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