How do we measure happiness? Can you explain to someone in subjective terms how happy you are at this moment? Bhutan has attempted to do that with its entire country. In 1972, Bhutan’s then leader, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, coined the phrase “Gross National Happiness”. Since that time the Center for Bhutan Studies has developed a sophisticated survey instrument to measure its socio-economic prosperity, essentially organizing its national agenda around the basic tenets of Buddhism.
Jonathan Harris decided to find another tool to measure the happiness of the people of Bhutan. He would use balloons. In 2007, he spent two weeks in the country interviewing 117 people asking them various questions about their level of happiness: What makes them happy; what is their happiest memory; what is their favorite joke; what is their happiness level on a scale of 1 to 10; if they could make one wish, what would that be. He then gave each person the number of balloons that corresponded to their happiness level and wrote each person’s wish on a balloon of their favorite color. He saved all of those balloons, re-inflated them, and hung them up at Dochula, a sacred mountain pass at 10,000 feet where there are thousands of prayer flags that people have strung up. He then said a special Buddhist prayer over the balloons to ensure the wishes would come true.
Discover more about the project and listen to the stories each person told.
told.
[via NPR The Picture Show]
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