THE HAPPINESS INDEX AND THE IDEA OF CHOICE

THE HAPPINESS INDEX AND THE IDEA OF CHOICE

I saw a new item on TED yesterday in which researchers had scored countries in terms of their level of happiness.

It was fascinating to watch and Australia surprisingly seems to rank only in the middle of the countries studied.

I also saw a programme on the ABC called Big Ideas featuring a discussion which also touched on the development of cities and people’s sense of attachment to the place where they live. The programme also mentioned people’s happiness and their sense of belonging to a community or place.

They mentioned something which has dawned on me as I have grown older and that was how people’s sense of happiness and their sense of having choices are related.

Quite some years ago I was trying to discover a simple key to what all human beings have in common and what it is that everyone is pursuing.

My conclusion; Everyone wants to be happy.

It seems simple enough except that everyone’s idea of happiness is different.

So, the conclusion I came to is that most people complicate this too much- simply find what makes you happy and do more of that- discover what makes you unhappy and do less of that.

When I have talked to people about this in the past they react in predictable ways.

Most often they provide me with a list of HAVE TOs.

You know the sort of thing, “I have to go to work, I have to take care of my kids”.

Lou Tice of The Pacific Institute pointed out years ago that you don’t actually have to do anything- life is a choice. The only thing you truly have to do is take up space. ( I am always happy to discuss these ideas directly).

The older I have become the more I am convinced that the happiest people are those who FEEL they have a sense of control over their lives and are able to choose they way they live.

If you are going to measure the success of your life by what other people are buying, doing, or pursuing then you will have no sense of control because the source of your motivation lies outside your choices. You will be a slave to others choices.

I am currently staggered by the sense of lack that exists where I live in the most prosperous times in the most prosperous State in the best country in the world, both economically, politically and socially.

How does all this relate to property?

When you are renting a home rather than bought, you cannot develop a sense of belonging to a place because, if the owner wants his property back, you are obliged to move on.

In my opinion one of the best places to start developing a sense of control is to put down roots in a place that feels like home.

Ross Cutten

Owner / Director

Noble Real Estate