Chapman Kids Blog

"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." –John 16:33

Tag: Happiness

Research on how to be happy

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On Tuesday, June 9, 2015

In Christianity, culture

I laughed when I saw this article on research about happiness. Here is a couple of quotes from the article that tell the story:

“If you lead your life always waiting for a great thing to happen, you probably will be unhappy,” Tamerin said.

“You can choose to live focusing on what is not right in your life,” Dr. Sood said.

And perhaps one of the biggest hindrances to being happy is too much thinking about one’s self, research shows.

“Complainers are never going to be happy,” Ketchian said. “Happiness is a decision.”

I think this research was already in at least a couple of millennia ago. Not surprisingly, there was nothing in the article about holding to a Christian worldview to help facilitate these kinds of behaviors and attitudes.

Betty Blonde #341 – 11/05/2009
Betty Blonde #341
Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Happiness vs. Suicide

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On Friday, April 24, 2015

In culture

The World Happiness Report for 2015 just came out. That report always seemed a little bogus to me, kind of whistling as you walk past the graveyard. It is interesting that a lot of the countries that rate very highly in happiness also rate very highly in suicide rate. There were 111 countries in the suicide list, so not one of the “happy” places was in the bottom half of the suicide rate list. Here are the top 10 happiest countries with their suicide rate ranking:

  1. Switzerland:  44
  2. Iceland:  42
  3. Denmark:  41
  4. Norway:  37
  5. Canada:  40
  6. Finland:  21
  7. Netherlands:  53
  8. Sweden:  35
  9. New Zealand:  39
  10. Australia:  49

Conversely a lot of the “unhappy” countries had very low suicide rates.  For instance Syria was ranked 3rd from worst in terms of happiness and 8th from best in terms of suicide.

Betty Blonde #306 – 09/18/2009
Betty Blonde #306
Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

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