week 8_ response_ yoyo

Chapter 8 discusses about the level of happiness people attain in different countries. Indulgence and restraint  are some of the factors determine people’s level of happiness. The correlation of happiness, life control and importance of leisure is quiet interesting to me. In indulgent culture, people are happy because they face less restriction in lives. They are free to choose their living style, do what they want and express how they feel. They treasure more time for leisure activities. In contrast, people in restraint culture tend to face more restrictions and have less time for leisure. This chapter reminds me of a news I saw few years ago. There was a report showing that the happiest county in the world is Bhutan. Bhutan is not a rich country in the world in terms of economic development. There are no big corporations, tall buildings, fancy cars, etc. People’s lives are simple. Actually, I do believe that the simplest life is the happiest life. It’s because people have less things to worry about, less pursuits of interests, less comparison, etc. It’s just like a utopia. I also don’t think there is a positive correlation between money and happiness. Rich countries, like U.S, U.K, Japan, can provide people a good living condition, but have no guarantee of providing people a happy living style. Many researches show that people in those rich countries are not happy with their lives because they are often restricted and annoyed by a lot of norms, regulations, personal pursuits, etc.