What Makes You Happy Magazine - Issue 1 by What Makes You Happy magazine

Makes What Makes You Happy

Italian stamps: a life lesson Happy homelife Elephant polo

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I can walk, I can walk Your brain on endorphins

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Issue No.1 February 2012

“I have the best job in the country, absolutely” February 2012 Six Dollars

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Women’s shoes: why? Crashing at work My car stays Smart

You dream of the land of ahhh, where gentle souls await.

Eyes drift along the graceful curve of your neck, the surf whispers your name, diamonds dance on water. Soft breezes caress your face, and paradise seems complete. In your heart nothing matters, save the everlasting present.

There’s an island in The Bahamas just right for the romantic in you. And with over 700 unique island experiences to choose from, you’ll be hard-pressed to pick just one. Whether it’s reef-diving off Andros, a Castaway Picnic in the Exumas or just strolling on Bay Street in Nassau — a lifetime of memories awaits you. And rest assured, wherever you go in The Islands of The Bahamas, you’ll discover some of the friendliest people on the planet. Contact the Bahamas Wedding Desk at 1 800 667-3777 or email romanceinfo@bahamas.com.

It’s Better in The Bahamas

bahamas.com

Contents 42

Children: the beginning of happiness and a lifelong promise

Workplace happiness: your guide to not crashing and burning

Women’s shoes: but honey, you already have a pair of black shoes

What makes them happy: six people, many answers, no cauliflower

Rick on the Rock: Cod and chips with Canada’s favourite ranting man

24 countries, 5 years, half a million questions - Ipsos gets some answers

Scientific explanations for your exercise high, and how to get it

Palace intrigue: Karma, tea, maharajas, massage and intriguing palaces

Poland 15%

Sweden 20%

Italy 13%

Indonesia 51%

Brazil 30%

Australia A 28%

Global Average India 22% TTurkey 30%

Canada 27%

Great Britain 21%

Global Average A 22%

Spain 11%

Germany 16%

43%

United States 28%

Belgium 16%

South Africa 21%

Japan 16%

Russia R 8%

Mexico 43%

South Korea 7%

Saudi Arabia 21%

Argentina 23% Hungary 6%

France 15%

China 19%

What Makes You Happy Johnny Lucas Editor in Chief and Publisher contact@happyhappyhappy.ca

Rebecca Brown Assistant Publisher Rebecca@happyhappyhappy.ca

Photography:

Victoria Ollers Associate Publisher, Marketing and Advertising 416 637-2176 x1 Victoria@happyhappyhappy.ca

Stéphanie Massé Account Manager Stephanie@happyhappyhappy.ca

Debra Forman by Michael Caringi

Richard Waterhouse Art Director www.wdabrandsolutions.com What Makes You Happy magazine is published by Everybody Eats Corporation.

Ruth McLeod Assistant Art Director Proofreading by Megalexis www.megalexis.com Special thanks to Dan Piraro for the use of his cartoon, Happy Homelife

Matt Shaw by Pam Lau

Kildare Dobbs by Linda Kooluris Dobbs

No part of this publication may be copied or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. Contributions from writers, photographers and experts are welcomed and treated with respect. Guidelines are posted at www.happyhappyhappy.ca

Johnny Lucas by Robert Watson Rick Mercer by Rick O’Brien Craig Fields, Dave Hunt, Vanessa Vakharia, Happy Jack and the Chuckimals by Glenn Brown

Most contents of the magazine are posted at www.thehappymagazine.com so you can send articles to your friends without ripping apart this issue. This is Issue Number 1. Our ISSN is 1927-8047

Robert Watson

Letter from the Editor

In the early days of developing the magazine you now hold in your hands, Victoria Ollers, our Associate Publisher, conducted an Elite Survey, having in-depth conversations with a diverse group of more than a hundred smart people in our target demographic. She reserved the question that is the title of our magazine for last and got remarkable responses. All were thoughtful and thought provoking; some of them are on page 14. To no surprise, we found that everyone is interested in being happy. And somehow it’s nicer still to know that people are also concerned with what makes others happy. Women’s shoes, or stuffed toys, or Rick Mercer will each put a smile on someone’s face, and if you’re not sure you are that particular someone, you may still be interested in reading about what’s important to the people around you. I have tried to collect articles ranging from serious to silly and from useful to nothing-but-fun. The fact that exercise is good for you is not exactly news, but perhaps some of the science that Celine Saroyan explains might be. Debra Forman goes head on into some reasons why you might not be happy at work, and suggests how you can change that. I’m still working out whether I believe that Rick Mercer is not a comedian, but I like his reasoning. Conrad Black, the Extension Chair, Christians and some irresistible penguins in the centrefold all provide insights into happiness from very different points of view. The biggest new information on happiness is our exclusive release of the Ipsos study. John Wright points out why this study is so different from others and gives some indications

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of what we can learn about human happiness from his nearly half million interviews. 6% of Hungarians, but 51% of Indonesians report being very happy: what do you make of that? So much to think about in this field, and more to come in the months and years ahead. If thinking makes you unhappy, please don’t look at this piece. On a very personal note, maybe I should say that happiness has been a life long informal study for me. I am not one of those lucky individuals who always has a rosy disposition and can take his own happiness for granted. I therefore value knowing something about what makes me, and you, happy. Like the people that we interviewed, I’ve learned that just thinking about happiness is a step in a happy direction. On that note, I once read that the greatest luxury is to work with the people you want to work with. My experience on this magazine bears that out so I can honestly say that I’ve been living in luxury for some months. Rebecca, Stéphanie, Dan, Ruth, Ginny, Dave, Tim, Scott, Bruce, Andy, Glenn, Pam, Rob, Erik and Sarah are part of the team that has made this premier issue possible. Megalexis did the proofreading. They were a pleasure to work with and I know that any errors you find are mine not theirs. Richard Waterhouse, our Art Director, deserves a special tribute and the best I can think of is to lift from Christopher Wren’s memorial and say “Reader, look around you” (at this magazine). As for Victoria Ollers, if I had been one of her interviewees, my answer to the question of what makes me happy would be not so much red Smarties or gin, as it would be working with her and our team. We hope that shows in these pages.

Contributors

Matt Shaw is a marketing communications strategist and spin doctor. Matt puts ideas into words for corporations, charities, social enterprises and publications. He is also a published author. His first book, The Obvious Child -- a story collection about dogs, detectives, insurance men and card sharks -- was published in 2007. In 2005, he received the Journey Prize for his first novel Matchbook For a Mother’s Hair, awarded to “an emerging writer of distinction.” Matt lives in Toronto.

Celine Saroyan is the Fitness Director at Verity, a private club for women in Toronto. She manages a health and fitness facility designed exclusively for women. Celine has a degree in kinesiology and certification as a strength and conditioning coach and as a spinning instructor and brings a scientific orientation to her job. Despite these credentials, or because of them, she wants to make fitness fun. “Fitness needs to fit in your life not the other way around.”

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Debra Forman is principal of Pinstripe Coaching, an international practice (www.pinstripecoaching. com). Debra is an Executive Coach at the Professional Certified Coach level and holds two Masters degrees. She facilitates peer advisory groups for the Women’s Executive Network, sits on the editorial board of Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report and is the resident coach of the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA). In 2010, Debra and Canadian Lawyer Magazine launched Making Rain, the first monthly business development online video coaching column.

Richard Waterhouse Richard Waterhouse is a graphic designer and brand consultant. Cutting his creative teeth on the mean streets of London with clients such as Warner Bros and Burberry. He subsequently crossed the pond and established his design consultancy in Canada with his wife and business partner, Alison René. Richard’s recent work includes the branding for a young person’s free condom distribution scheme “Come Correct.” Devising sexual innuendos and pitching them to public health officials made Richard very happy indeed.

The Impact of Words by Joan Llewellyn

Throw your voice. Hurl an insult. Toss out an idea – how did we do any of that before the Chuckimal? These silly plush toys contain patented technology that plays a four second message that you’ve recorded – upon impact. They were sell outs and are exclusively available in England until next month. Chuckimals will invade Canada in April. The original model loses its memory after 30 minutes. Dave Cave of Dragon-I Toys, says that’s because they were afraid of the messages kids might leave on them while the toys were still in retail stores – no one wants to buy a foul mouthed parrot. What Makes You Happy got some advance models and found Chuckimals to be great icebreakers at parties. Kids of all ages bond immediately. No one did not smile. One imaginative corporate type wanted to prepare for every meeting by pre-programming 10 Chuckimals with messages of praise, insults and requests for coffee, and the conduct the meeting with his new, colourful and obedient staff lined up in front of him, ready to launch. Wait for the precedent-setting lawsuit over being fired by Chuckimal, or the first proposal of marriage delivered by a small airborne talking cow.

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Are Christians happier? By Rev. Orville James

I’m a minister. Somehow this gives strangers permission to skip over the small talk when we meet. Mostly this is good – I am generally in favour of efficiency and I want to be of service. A man I met at a barbeque began by saying “My wife left me. Then I lost my job and had to declare bankruptcy.” I looked at him and said, “I’m really sorry. Can I help at all?” “No, no,” he said. “You don’t understand. That’s when Jesus found me.” I started looking for an exit. I’d already categorized him as an eccentric religious nut, another occupational hazard. But I was wrong. As we talked further, I heard of a friendship with Jesus that had begun when he was down and evolved from a spiritual parachute to a guiding light, giving him what he needed to move forward through hardship and challenge. For this man, a spiritual awakening made all the difference and left me with the question: Does Christian faith make believers happier? Part of me wants to say yes, but when I asked colleagues and family (all people of faith), they responded negatively. Some grimaced and groaned, “No way! That’s not what Christianity is about.” And yet, surveys by Gallup, the National Opinion Research Center and the Pew organization conclude that spiritually committed people are twice as likely to report being “very happy” than the least religiously committed people. Part of my job is to be a person people can come to when they want answers, which occasionally I have. On this matter I had many questions. Is happiness what Jesus came for? No, not really. But what did Jesus mean when he said, “I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11)?

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I’m pretty sure this experience is not restricted to Christians and I’ve met some pretty cheerful Jews and Muslims, too.

Jesus’ joy was best seen as an unshakeable peace and a calm confidence, regardless of momentary circumstances. I have known followers of Christ who exemplify this state of mind. Some of them exude a zestful spirit that makes life a happy adventure. At the same time, I’ve known some church people whose religious involvement was like an anvil of duty hanging around their neck. One minister asked a grumpy member of his church if he was happy. When told yes, the minister said, “Then tell your face!” Perhaps what’s at work here is the difference between religion and faith. Faith is an intimate, affectionate relationship. We know we’re not alone; we feel a Presence; we recognize that this moment and this world is not all there is; we realize there is a Power beyond ourselves who is always active and available. Spiritual living is good for our personality. “So I say, live by the Spirit... [For] the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:16, 22). It strikes me that anyone with those personality traits would be a happy person. I’m pretty sure this experience is not restricted to Christians and I’ve met some pretty cheerful Jews and Muslims, too. The key is not the system of worship one participates in but rather a relationship of committed trust in God. Jesus said, “I am come that you might have life... to the full” (John 10:10). In an intimate relationship with our Creator, life becomes an adventure that gives satisfaction. We gain perseverance to face challenging circumstances and find meaning and purpose for our energies. Even when failure or an ending comes, there is assurance of resurrection and ultimate victory. I can’t think of anything that could make you happier. Rev. James is the SeniorMinister at Wellington Square UnitedChurch in Burlington, Ontario. A version of this piece first appeared in The United Church Observer.

Since you asked... Kildare Dobbs Kildare Dobbs is a veteran writer and poet. Born Irish in India he was educated at Cambridge and choose Canada as his country. Author of 17 books, Kildare has received the Governor General’s Award and the Order of Ontario in recognition of his life’s work. His most recent publication is the epic poem, Casanova in Venice. Kildare, what makes you happy? Gin He said with a grin, later adding that it must be Plymouth Gin.

Vanessa Vakharia In high school, Vanessa Vakharia failed math twice. Now, she has a Masters of Math Education and heads The Math Guru, a tutoring centre dedicated to inspiring high school students to be, as she is, excited about mathematics and its possibilities. Vanessa imagines a world in which Paris Hilton loves math. Vanessa, what makes you happy? When they really understand a math concept for the first time...that “ah ha” moment

Craig Fields Craig Fields is the CFO of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, one of the leading business law firms in Canada. His title at home is Dad, husband of Judy and father of Matthew, a Special Olympian, and Emily a designer, artist and comedian. Craig is a coach in the Blue Mountain Special Olympics Alpine Program which is where you will find him every Sunday there is snow, and many when there is not. Craig, what makes you happy? Seeing the look on the faces of the Special Olympians when they cross the finish line. And every moment with these athletes who truly know how to live every moment as if it is the most precious moment. Which it is.

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Dave Hunt Dave Hunt is the founder and President of The Hunt Group, a Mississauga based Digital Marketing & Fulfillment Services provider. Dave also serves as Chairman for Prepaid Exchange Canada, a global membership-based group dedicated to education, best practices and business growth in the gift card and prepaid industry in Canada. Dave balances his two passions: his family and the business. When he does manage to chill Dave can be seen around the Beach Community, in Toronto, on Georgian Bay, or the ski slopes in Collingwood with “his girls.” Dave, what makes you happy? Eating the red Smarties first

Kira Leskew Kira Leskew is a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Amberwood Doors Inc., a full service custom manufacturer of wood entry doors and interior doors. Kira has been an entrepreneur since graduation. Her previous businesses include a custom powder coating business and a yoga studio. Kira, what makes you happy? Dancing…everywhere

Jack In his 9 years, Jack has not yet assembled a biography that is more impressive than his high wattage smile. To friends and family he is known as Happy Jack. Jack, what makes you happy? Building stuff with Lego, swimming and spending time at our cottage, having my cousin come over to play. Not cauliflower, it tastes weird. My sisters make me happy too.

Six of the best... Slow Food Food is getting better! Think back 10 or 20 years. “Gourmet” in some circles meant a can of mushroom soup poured over your meatloaf. Where our Canadian ancestors were scraping the bottom of their root cellars until June, our dilemma is to choose between cuisines from around the globe – which are usually better than the versions served in their home regions. Slow Food, the opposite of fast food, is a major movement. It could be called Gourmet Comfort Food.

Markham Street Subway Station Really ugly architecture, the inside looks like an enormous public washroom, the lighting is fluorescent glare and there’s not even a bored attendant to ignore you. It’s one stop shopping for everything to mock Toronto. Why is this a happy place? Some years ago small groups of pesky young people convened here to snooze, talk, ingest questionable substances and give surly looks to all who entered herein. The sound system throughout the TTC, known for blaring inane and unintelligible messages, was enlisted to play beautiful classical music at this entrance, and a few other stations, all the time. Them darn youngsters could not stand it! They cleared out and did not return. Subway patrons now get a few bars of great music as they pass through and no one sleeps on the benches anymore.

A Banana It’s the fruit with a sense of humour, who knows why? Is it because monkeys eat them the very same way we do, except that we don’t usually involve our feet? Is it because of banana peel falling-down-laughing skits? One banana undermined the political career of Robert Stanfield, “the best Prime Minister Canada never had,” by providing years of fodder for political cartoons. Sideways a banana looks like a smile, maybe that’s it.

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The Sun Way back in our evolutionary history, since before we were plankton even, we’ve been tied to the waxing and waning of the sun. This time of year we are getting more of it and it’s no surprise we feel better for it! Since December 22 at 5:30 AM our part of the world started tilting back toward the sun and our days have been getting longer. Sunshine helps regulate hormones and serotonin which are important for sleep, appetite and mood. At our Northern latitudes the length of our days varies widely throughout the year and maybe our mood varies too. Right now, we’re on the upswing. Anything that is getting better is worth a celebration.

A Bag of Wine These bags will be remembered and in use long after the glow of the wine they once held is gone. Profits support indigenous weavers and they are the ultimate in recyclable. Designed to be passed from friend to wine-loving friend, they have a small kangaroo pocket containing a little ledger to record the bag’s history. It’s social media without the technology. www.amigogifts.com

A Dog Unconditional love, loyalty and a wagging tail: how can that be bad? Here’s an experiment: lock your spouse in the trunk of your car for an hour, after that do the same to your dog. Which one was more happy to see you when you opened the trunk? Dogs inspire us in ways we dare not admit and all men who own dogs are motivated to be the man their dog thinks they are.

The Educational Value of Italian Stamps by Pat Johns

When the world was younger, I was a backpacker passing through Italy. In Rome I stopped at a tobacconist in the railway station and a bought few postcards. There were no stamps to be seen in the little kiosk so I used some phrases in the back of my guidebook to ask where to find the Post Office and thus I set the stage for a life-changing insight.

(whereas the Vatican had been completely unmoved in any way by my presence). I felt this was not the right place, somehow that was obvious – but how was that possible? What an exciting city in which going to the Post Office was turning into an adventure and an education. How was this woman going to direct me? Do Italians not use the mail?

Responding to my question the vendor gave me “a look” with raised eyebrows and a challenging facial contortion I had not seen in the smallish Ontario city in which I had spent most of my life. Although the expression was undecipherable his directions were clear enough. The Post Office was only about four blocks away and it’s never boring walking around Rome so that was fine.

Does Ufficio Postale mean something more sinister than Post Office?

The Post Office was different than anything a Canadian would expect. No lines of people buying stamps and weighing parcels, no community notices, no women in freshly pressed dresses looking for a nice gossip. Clearly Rome is different than Ontario. That isn’t news, but the big revelations are always in the small details not the sweeping generalities, and that was still news to me then. It was a large brown bunker of a building. Mussolini in his cape with his entourage might have swept out the heavy doors and down the stairs at any moment. Inside, the old fashioned lobby had a smell that was both dusty and mouldy. There was a round desk behind which sat one bored, slightly surly yet animated, attractive woman who was perfectly positioned to direct the comings and goings of visitors, of whom there were none. She was as secure and entrenched as the Vatican and she was surprised and perhaps slightly interested to see me

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A world of possible answers opened before my hyperactive mind like a fascinating but unpopulated abyss. At that age it is normal to be made happy by uncertainties and unknown possibilities. Again, with guidebook Italian, I brandished my postcards and proclaimed that my purpose was to buy stamps. The first and smaller revelation of the next five seconds was that the woman responded in very correct and only slightly accented English. Even “tobacconists” which is not part of the vocabulary of every native speaker of English was familiar to her and she correctly pronounced the difficult consonant cluster at the end of that word. Romans certainly are cosmopolitan. What she said added a steel pylon that went all the way down to the bedrock which to this day continues to support my ideas of the way the world is ordered – ideas that my awakening brain was then working hard to build. The thought of that and the memory of the 15 minutes all of this took to happen continues to be a source of happiness to this day. What she said was this: We do not have stamps here. You can buy them at tobacconists. There is one in the railway station.

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An Exercise in Happiness by Celine Saroyan

Runners will tell you they feel high after a run and that they are then free from any pain, discomfort, stress or anxiety. People who practice yoga, lift weights or simply get on a treadmill for a daily walk, are familiar with a similar feeling, although they may not call it a “high.” It is a consistent observation that exercise lifts mood. Can we take it a little further and really say that those who exercise are in fact happier? Exercise has long been reported to improve conditions related to stress and anxiety. Now, there is real scientific evidence to support this. Just how exercise boosts your mood is a little complex and it comes down to heightened production of happy chemicals in the brain – the neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. Not only this, but exercise releases growth hormones that increase the supply of blood and oxygen to the brain, stimulating the release of powerful mood-enhancing endorphins. Yoga, swimming, cycling and long distance running improve serotonin and dopamine levels. Light to moderate exercise increases dopamine production. Excessive training, on the other hand, can have adverse effects. Too much of a good thing? Yes, that is definitely possible when it comes to exercise. What is routine for an Olympic athlete who has built up strength and stamina over a lifetime or a career may be excessive for you. Proof that you’re happier Endorphins are measureable. They’re the neurochemicals that act as the body’s natural painkiller and start releasing soon after you begin to exercise. They produce four key effects on the body: they relieve pain, reduce stress and anxiety, enhance the immune system and postpone the aging process. Endorphin production increases with the frequency of the exercise and occurs regardless of the individual’s athletic history or the level of exercise intensity. Based on these findings, it is no surprise that those who exercise regularly say they are happier. Now science can confirm that they are in fact measurably chemically happier.

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With new research techniques and a growing understanding of biochemistry, scientists at Princeton discovered that exercise also stimulates the creation of new brain cells. Even more interesting is that there are indications that these new cells are more resistant to the ill effects of stress than the brain cells we were born with. How much, how little? How much exercise do we need to promote these responses? Does the type of activity matter? The simple answer is yes, both the quantity and nature of your exercise do matter, but perhaps in a way many don’t expect. The key variables in an exercise routine are the time allotted for workouts and, more importantly, the intensity of the workout. Consistent and moderate levels of activity have the greatest effect on serotonin and dopamine levels. 45 minutes of activity causing an increase in body temperature and heart rate (somewhere in the range of 60-75% of your maximum heart rate) are what you want. Strength training, swimming or walking at a good pace will achieve these goals.

It is important to note that exercising at the right intensity is just as important as exercising at all.

Right for you However, if you have always been an athlete and like to train hard, grunt and sweat, and push yourself to the max, then this type of workout is just not going to cut it for you. If you train harder, say at 80% percent of your maximum heart rate, then you can give yourself the option of reducing your workout to 30 minutes. Very high intensity exercises such as power lifting, sprinting, interval training and plyometrics increase adrenaline levels, but prolonged activity at high intensity can have an undesired effect. Over time, you would start to feel the effects of overtraining: poor sleep, inability to see marked improvements in time or speed, and, in some cases, the inability to lose weight. It is important to note that exercising at the right intensity is just as important as exercising at all. This is true at all levels of exercise: it must be right for you. Mind and Body Some other points worth making about exercise go beyond the strictly physical. Time spent exercising is a vacation from work, the kids or the “to do” list – at best exercise is a

meditation. Keeping your appointments with yourself at the gym is one way to demonstrate that you are in control and can take responsibility for the positive accomplishments you get. We all feel better about ourselves when we can do this. And not to forget that there is a little narcissist in all of us. Although we may not initially admit that we work out to look good, exercise does improve our posture and our physical appearance and we carry ourselves with a little more confidence. Others pick up on this positive energy. Some of us are natural born athletes, others are weekend warriors. Some people exercise because they have an intellectual understanding of the importance of it. The benefits are similar. If also having science on your side inspires you to get moving – great. In addition to all the very positive intangibles, it is a scientifically proven fact that good, regular exercise will make all of us a little happier. Celine Saroyan is a kinesiologist and certified strength training coach. She is the Fitness Director at Verity, www.verity.ca, a private club for women in Toronto.

The dark pleasures of Conrad Black by Pascal Lotbiniere

Many things give pleasure, even the misery of others. There is surprisingly little written about this phenomenon, but there is a lot written about Conrad Black. The last seven years of the life of Mr. Black have been difficult for him, and who among us has not privately, even furtively, taken an ounce of pleasure from that? He is an easy guy to dislike. Black is insightful and he cares about his public image, so of course he is aware of the delight we take in his tribulations. He taunted us with outrageous claims of innocence and superiority and provided a feeding frenzy for our schadenfreude. Our own dark monsters gorged on the meaty morsels thrown off by his troubles, following the trail wherever Conrad led. Deliberately or otherwise, he has taught us the dark side of the joy we get from the misfortunes of others. He has rubbed our noses in the guilt of this pleasure so much that now some of us actually feel sorry for him. He has held his ground and proclaimed his innocence without compromise, possibly to the point of delusion. Everyone who has followed his story has drawn some lessons from it. This man, known for his love of polysyllables, has taught us the meaning of “schadenfreude.” It is a word permanently borrowed from German because we, and even Conrad, could not find the right word in English. “Schaden” is harm, “Freude” is joy.” We did not have to look so far for new names for Mr. Black; his high-flying career has earned him enemies, enviers and unkind nicknames. “Tubby” Black seems to have stuck, and Lord Black of Cross Dressing had a lot of mileage especially when used as a caption for the outfit he put on for his investiture into the House of Lords. Do we feel badly about that now? 2005, the year he was hit with 12 criminal charges, was the beginning of the end for Black’s highest flying. His conviction in 2007 and his return to jail last year after a partially successful appeal deepened our understanding of the dark joys and deep dangers of riding the black serpent of schadenfreude. Black is probably less happy now than while he was accumulating newspapers and going to fancy dress parties, but who knows? He absolutely gets top marks for putting on a brave face. He says he’s a better person for it all. He says he has evolved. His is not an unexamined life so maybe we should believe this. The Dalai Lama says that compassion, the opposite of schadenfreude, is the root of happiness. After following Black’s journey, who does not have a tad more compassion for people of whom we never really approved? It may well be the first time these two names have been linked in the same w w w. th eh appy m ag azi n e. c o m / 1 / 2 2

sentence but here it goes: both Conrad Black and the Dalai Lama have something to teach us about compassion. In a wonderful piece of low journalism, Christie Blatchford noted that Black’s fate hung in the hands of a jury “each of whose thighs appear to weigh more than all of Barbara Amiel on a fat day.” Don’t tell me that you do not share at least a shred of Blatchford’s evil delight in this improbable juxtaposition. By the time Mr. Black was convicted in 2007, the bloom was coming off the dark rose. No one except Black speaks up for his innocence anymore, yet the entire weight of the American legal system, including a visit to the Supreme Court was unable to break his superior spirit – or his spirit of superiority. In a Vanity Fair article, he claimed to be unashamed of his time in jail and even found large words to describe cavity searches, adding the phrase “that generally unremitting orifice” to the long, long compendium of quotable Conrad. That is Conrad Black talking about his bum! Taking joy in hearing about Conrad Black’s bum goes well beyond any guilty pleasure. Surely, our capacity for schadenfreude is now exhausted. Thank you for the journey, Conrad Black. You have given us a greater insight into what it is to be you than you may have intended. We have evolved with you and following one of the laws of untended consequences, your troubles may have made us better people too. Perhaps that, and familiarity with the word “schadenfreude,” are your most lasting contributions to society.

Riesling, pinot noir & Co.: www.germany.travel

Discover the taste of Germany

ÂŠ Katrin Heyer

See the sights of WĂźrzburg. Then enjoy a wine tasting in a Franconian vinothek. Take your palate on an adventure!

Living Happily with MS by Steve Garvie

I have Multiple Sclerosis. I have a brace on my left leg and I walk with a cane most of the time. On longer walks, I use a walker, and when I take Magoo, my golden lab for a walk, I use a taxpayer-provided electric wheelchair. I love the fact that I have a life almost like anyone else. I feel normal and I love that. My girlfriend tells me I’m semi-normal, which I take as a sign of normalcy. I’m very, very happy to be this normal.

On the operating table, even before they had taken the wire out of my body I felt something was different. I tried to raise the arm that had been useless for five years – and I could and did. I reached over and shook the nurse’s hand with my previously lifeless left hand. I bent my leg as I had not been able to do for years – all while still lying on the operating table. Did that make me happy? Do you have to ask?

Twice in my life, I’ve been anything but normal. Until January 29, 2010, I was almost a basket case. I could not stand, let alone walk. My bladder did not work at all. I had such brain fog that I could not think and I certainly could not hold any positive thoughts in my head. The fatigue was ever-present and, by itself, was enough to be debilitating even without all the other symptoms.

Eighteen months later, my veins had closed up again and I was once again in terrible shape. This time I knew what to do. With the procedure banned in Canada, I, like thousands of other Canadians, became a medical refugee and went to the USA for this simple, effective procedure. After the operation, I was back to my new normal and even better self because with improved diagnostics they found another point of stenosis and treated that too.

With what we knew of Multiple Sclerosis then, I did not hold out hope of ever getting better. I thought I might live in an ever-worsening condition for up to five more years, but I had no desire to do that. The suicide rate among people with MS is seven times the average, and I know why – from firsthand experience. I moved into government housing because I was completely incapable of looking after myself. I was given an electric wheelchair to use for the remainder of what was expected to be a short life. I got decent care but I was aware that I was in a dead end facility from which no one comes out alive. It was a very, very low point, and I was sure that I would never be happy – or anything close – ever again. Now we know that most people with MS have blocked veins that affect blood flow in the brain: usually one or two jugular veins, and often the azygos vein as well. The condition is called CCSVI for Chronic Cerebral Spinal Vascular Insufficiency and is found in significant numbers of people with Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Autism. If you have CCSVI the blood does not drain properly from your brain, and sometimes the blood even flows in the wrong direction. We don’t yet know exactly what this does to your brain, but it’s not good. The treatment is simple and safe and almost identical to the routine angioplasties that are done daily in hospitals across Canada. In fact, it’s correctly called veinoplasty, because it’s done on a vein, but the principle is the same. They go in with a wire that has a little balloon on the end of it, find where my vein is stenosed (narrowed) and inflate the balloon to open the vein and allow the blood to flow as it should. I was lucky to get this treatment before the procedure was banned in Canada.

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Now, I’m back at work, I can bathe myself and I can function as a man and have a girlfriend who considers me half-normal. That’s something to celebrate. Actually, I have two jobs. In addition to selling real estate as I’ve done for 30 years, I started a foundation that funds this treatment for other people. So far, we’ve supported 50 people so they can leave Canada to get the treatment. Not all results were as dramatic as mine were, but all were positive. I’m not happy that I have MS, but I’m happy that I’m in as good a condition as I am. I’m really not happy that we can’t have this simple, safe procedure done in Canada, but I’m happy that there are generous people who are willing to help others get it done even if it means going outside our borders. I am living my life, I’ve met wonderful people in the proCCSVI movement. I’m working and I’m making a difference for the better. I have MS, I walk with a cane and have it on good authority that I’m only semi-normal. I’m a very happy guy.

Steve Garvie is president of the CCSVI Foundation of Canada www.ccsvifoundationcanada.org and a member of the CCSVI Coalition www.ccsvicoalition.org

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Antoine de Saint-ExupĂŠry

Staying in The Driver’s Seat: Workplace Happiness by Debra Forman Wanting to excel in your professional career is a journey of best intentions. Sadly, some of the biggest obstacles on the road to success are the ones we put there ourselves. We may sabotage our own efforts by dealing ineffectively with “blocks” that prevent us from moving forward. These blocks are created by your thoughts and sustained by your feelings. The good news is that because all their force comes from within, you can take control and drive through the barriers. Here’s the process: you think something, which causes you to feel something, and then you react or act. When the thought-feeling-action sequence is dominated by negative or debilitating blocks, the pattern takes on a life of its own. This sounds pretty basic. If you think good thoughts, you’ll feel good and then you’ will do good deeds. Alternatively: think bad, feel bad, do bad. If only life were so black and white. What regularly enters the scenario to create grey is other people, deadlines, stressors, weather conditions, crises, higher stakes, challenges, distractions, bad hair days. In a word: life. So how do you stay effective? Stay alert when driving Staying in control of your actions is challenging in life and in the workplace. Often, by acting “reactively” to a situation, you “summon” effectiveness-hampering blocks. Yes, you are in control of your actions, but it’s like driving a car with no brakes: you are responsible for driving the vehicle but you cannot bring it back onto course as you have lost control. In the competitive work environment, you want to stay in the driver’s seat when it is your responsibility to be there and to achieve an objective. This means you want to demonstrate leadership qualities and maintain a clear and rational direction. When you are sidetracked, demoted and/or pushed into the back seat you give up control. How do you let this happen? When your actions are dominated by conditioned responses you are robbed of your effectiveness and prevented from advancing professionally or being satisfied in

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your performances. Conditioned responses are like getting a shock: you find yourself in a specific situation and -- zap! --you think, feel and act in the same way each time. You become even more vulnerable when your behaviours are anticipated or predicted by others. If someone thinks you are going to act a certain way, there is a shift of power and

you lose control. In these unhappy situations, you have unwittingly left the driver’s seat and are sitting passively in the back seat waiting for someone else to drive the car. When you have relinquished your seat of authority you have enabled your blocks to overwhelm you. Consequently, you won’t move forward or attain higher goals.

Four Immobilizing Blocks Here are examples of the four blocks that can effectively stall you, causing career-limiting conditioned responses: Numbing Voice of Negativity The first controlling block is your “inner voice” of negativity. When your conditioned response in challenging situations is under the guise and control of the Nagging Voice, your effectiveness is impeded and all you hear are self-sabotaging whispers in your ears. “You aren’t smart enough,” “You aren’t skilled enough,” “You aren’t capable or senior enough.” This voice paralyzes you with self-doubt. Self doubt prevents you from taking action. These crippling innuendos arm you with excuses for not pushing your limits or moving outside your comfort zones.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy The second difficult block is when you assume something won’t work because a similar action was unsuccessful. Letting past failures dictate how you view and tackle new situations prevents you from trying again and denies you new opportunities for success. If you think the client was previously challenged with an answer you provided to their problem you may question the wisdom of stirring things up and giving an innovative solution to this latest issue, even if it is better. It seems easier to play safe. Unfortunately, when you assume that all situations follow similar patterns you prevent yourself from exploring new and improved directions.

Getting Back on Course By controlling how you act and react to situations, you control your effectiveness as it directly relates to the situations. When you think and feel creatively and efficiently, you act and react creatively and efficiently. In using the driving analogy, when you allow your blocks to control your actions and reactions, you live as if you have crashed the car and detonated the airbag. At the crash site, your movements are out of your control.

Me, Myself and I A third block appears when you rely solely on your own interpretation of events. Allowing yourself the only read on a situation can cause you to misinterpret facts or misrepresent your positions on key matters. You can stunt your development when you isolate others’ involvement, preventing growth of knowledge and experience. This is especially debilitating in a workplace where promoting team building and sharing are key goals and benchmarks.

Is Good Enough Good Enough? The fourth block is in effect when you limit your actions or reactions only to solutions that have worked for you previously. You prevent yourself from identifying new and better solutions, causing you to live with blinders on. It is very comforting to stick with one’s successes, believing there will be no surprises, confrontations or confusions. But what happens when success recedes into the past and loses its shine? Limiting your depth of vision can blind you to opportunities and insights and rightly puts your competitive edge and creativity into question.

When you shift your personal blocks and think, feel and act in a responsible and authoritative way, you will pierce the airbag and move aside any other object that impedes you from viewing a situation clearly and effectively. Then, you are able to attain your personal goals. Wanting to excel in the workplace gets you more than halfway to success. Controlling how you act will serve you well as you push down the home stretch, unblocked, and much happier.

Debra Forman, a certified executive coach and principal of Pinstripe Coaching (www.pinstripecoaching.com), works in partnership with her clients in one-on-one and group coaching sessions that help clients stay in the drivers’ seats.

When is a chair... by Peter Jewell

joerd Vroonland’s Extension Chair saw you coming and knew you were going to hang a coat on it. Whimsical and practical, it rates 10 out of 10 on the Form Follows Function scale. Weights hidden under the seat guarantee that this chair cum coat rack will not fall over in those few seconds between receiving your coat on the high extension and accommodating your bottom in the usual place. Vroonland says that a sense of humour was not foremost in his mind when he created this piece, but that most people do smile, chuckle or laugh in recognition of how they treat a chair when they first set eyes on this creation.

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design only chairs now,” Vroonland told What Makes You Happy. “Chairs are the most interesting things for a designer. Anything can be a lamp, for example, if you just put a light on it, but a chair must have function – you make physical contact with it, so it’s about comfort and a lot of things.”

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his and more versions of Vroonland’s chairs that have sprouted small trees, purse hooks and mirrors can be seen and ordered at www. vroonland.info. One of the essential discussions in second year Philosophy classes is “When is a chair not a chair?” It would take a week to cope with the answer “When it’s a coat rack” and there is enough material on Vroonland’s site to keep the philosophers sitting in deep discussion for an extra term.

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Brown Thomas, Dublin | Burdifilek – Toronto Photo: Ben Rahn

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What makes you love your home even more? What makes your stay at a hotel feel like home? What makes your workspace function? What makes shopping an experience?

PROFESSIONALS DESIGNING EXCEPTIONAL SPACES.

Qu’est-ce qui vous fait aimer votre maison encore plus que vous ne l’aimiez déjà? Qu’est-ce qui fait que vous vous sentez comme chez vous à l’hôtel? Qu’est-ce qui rend votre lieu de travail fonctionnel? Qu’est-ce qui transforme le magasinage en une expérience?

DES PROFESSIONNELS QUI CONÇOIVENT DES ESPACES EXCEPTIONNELS. designFIND Search for a qualified professional interior designer online Recherchez un designer d’intérieur professionnel et qualifié en ligne

idcanada.org

Women’s Shoes: What’s the Big Deal? by Matt Shaw Illustrations: Anna Paff

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There’s really only one thing a man must know about women’s shoes: they’re a great icebreaker for a conversation with nearly any woman. (The effect may be heightened if the man’s shoes are themselves tidy and well-polished.) Much less clear to most men and women alike is why shoes hold such a special place with women. What’s the big deal with women’s shoes anyway? Newsflash: women really like shoes. A majority even use the word “love” in describing their relationship with footwear. “The real meaning of things is your feelings towards them,” says Teddy Langschmidt, president of Hotspex, a market research firm that analyzes the emotions that products generate in consumers – making him an expert, professionally speaking, on desire. “Men and women mostly agree on the things that elicit the greatest longing, or desire, with one major exception. If shown a series of images that evoke desire, men will invariably choose pictures of naked women as the most arousing and desirable images. Women choose pictures of shoes and accessories. In addition, women’s desire for shoes significantly exceeds men’s desire for naked women. These findings are remarkably consistent across time and demographics – we see them over and over again.” 130% of George and Brad It’s well understood that men are most strongly affected by visual stimuli, and women most strongly bond with emotions. But how is it that men and women are able to collectively agree on the colours (red and pink), shapes (circles and curves) and music (salsa and rock) that are the most desirable – and to differ so profoundly on our attraction to shoes? What is the relationship between a woman’s shoes and her emotions? And are shoes really 30% more desirable than George Clooney or Brad Pitt, as Langschmidt’s data concludes? Men, should you choose to use any of the above information as a conversational icebreaker, do not ask a woman if she thinks her shoes are sexier than Brad Pitt. She will be embarrassed, and more importantly, she may not understand why she thinks the way she does about her shoes, or she may be reluctant to admit she loves shoes in the first place – and, try as you might, you might not understand, either. The Happy Place Anne Naugler of Saskatoon is a perfectly typical and pleasant young woman and schoolteacher who happens to own the region’s largest repository of size seven and a half women’s shoes. One room of her house is lined with shoes from floor to ceiling on all four sides. The effect of row upon row of colourful shoes is the illusion that at any moment the shoes will descend from the walls and walk about, like a scene from Mary Poppins.

“They are not charged with the same pressures and bodyimage anxiety of other types of clothing or accessories. They actually deflect that pressure.” Anne refuses to count how many pairs of shoes she owns. To do so would spoil it, she says, and besides, it’s not about the number of shoes she has, but how they make her feel: sexy, happy, even powerful, or special. Her friends call the shoe room “the happy place.” And for a moment, I almost understand – the room is bright, lit in both the primary and complex colours of pumps, running shoes and flats, calmly and neatly ordered, shoes waiting to be plucked from the shelves and showboated in the room’s mirrors. “When I told my father my plans for the room, he was unimpressed,” says Anne, laughing. “But when he finally saw it, all he had to say was that I really needed more green shoes!” For a man, maybe that’s as close to understanding as it gets. While she has very special feelings for a particular rack holding her most treasured pairs, she is not entirely certain why she feels this way, nor can she further explain why men only partially understand. Body, Mind and Shoe Clinical psychologist Dr. Joti Samra suggests a possible explanation rooted in physiology and psychological conditioning. Consider a pair of classic women’s pumps: to wear them is to effect a literal transformation of the body by improving posture and making one feel taller. As every woman tells me, wearing heels takes skill, confidence and even physical endurance: they change the way a woman carries herself. “These physical details absolutely have the ability to affect our emotions,” says Dr. Samra. “If you consider how the act of wearing heels may positively affect a woman’s mood, and then consider the occasions when a woman wears them – special occasions in which she is taking care of herself, feels most at ease or assertive and in control – it makes sense that she would develop very powerful positive associations with her shoes.” And would men feel the same about their shoes? Probably not, says Dr. Samra: men may behave somewhat differently when wearing work boots instead of worn-out sneakers or polished wingtips, but the positive physical changes these shoes cause are much less drastic. Factor in other gender- >

specific differences, such as the particular pressures of mass media on a woman’s body image, and the gap grows. “A woman’s shoes are a neutral zone,” says Dr. Samra. “They are not charged with the same pressures and body-image anxiety of other types of clothing or accessories. They actually deflect that pressure.” She Surely Shops for Shoes What about this loaded question: do women really need to buy more shoes? “Shopping itself is a source of pleasure,” says counsellor and psychotherapist Kimberly Moffit. Studies have demonstrated that the act of shopping actually produces neurotransmitters that profoundly affect our mood – the same neurotransmitters that make us feel good. “It’s well-known that women respond more strongly than men to emotional connections. So imagine what happens when a woman combines the pleasurable experience of shopping itself with the positive feelings women can get from their shoes!”

Despite these very powerful and real reactions to shoes, a full-grown woman might still think it immature or vain, indulgent or silly to admit that she loves shoes in the first place, especially to the strange man who accosts her on a downtown street – or phones from across the country – to seriously ask her opinion about something that seems trivial. Every interview for this story began much the same way, with an explanation of credentials to allay the “suspicious creep” factor and establish an aura of professionalism and seriousness, often destroyed moments later with his first serious question: do you love your shoes? The Language of Love What is often most interesting is not whether women say they do or don’t love shoes, but the manner in which they respond. It usually goes like this: the question is asked; the woman pauses, laughs or smiles; then she answers impulsively

and with enthusiasm. The corresponding emotions might first be confusion or relief, followed by a moment of genuine pleasure, which is expressed regardless of whether or not the interviewee truly enjoys shoes. It is the pleasure of being asked such a frivolous, even ridiculous question – which, as psychotherapist and counsellor Kimberly Moffit confirms, “is like admitting an indulgence.” For that is in part, as Anne Naugler and others say, what makes shoes so much fun. They are a bright and colourful distraction from the day to day, and a rare treat for a women who may otherwise rarely take much time for herself. Leave the black and brown at home; a woman’s shoes may be as bold as she chooses. Shoes give her the freedom to express herself confidently in a way that clothing, so often associated with body image anxiety, cannot. She may choose the height and style that suits her assertiveness and mood, and enjoy the instant confidence that comes from wearing them. That which she has desired – the pair that she has specifically chosen – now makes her feel more attractive, beautiful, desirable, powerful, in control.

One piece of practical advice: men should conduct the experiment themselves. Asking a woman about her shoes always triggers a response of some kind; at best, it might provoke a rare insight into the female mind. If not, many women are utterly charmed by the subject of shoes, and that someone has noticed hers – and doesn’t every woman deserve to be charmed? That’s a secret George Clooney understands. We can’t all be like George, but if you know something about a woman’s shoes, you don’t have to be – studies would suggest you’re already sexier than he is. How’s that for an icebreaker?

Matt Shaw puts ideas into words for corporations, charities, social enterprises and publications. He couldn’t walk in heels if he tried.

Common themes among the responses include practicality (“I love shoes, but I’m more of a practical person”), previous youthful immaturity (“Well, I used to really love shoes, but not so much anymore”) and gender (“I love shoes, but I just can’t explain it to you”).

Despite her considerable shoe collection, Anne’s attitude towards her shoes is not so much different from that of many other women, even if she has acquired more shoes than most. She is also not immune to the telling momentary pause or verbal nuances that hint at a deeper layer of a woman’s complex feelings towards her shoes. She answers the question, “Do you love your shoes?” as do many others, with the usual pattern of pause, relief, and positive response – followed by a qualifier, an explanation, or a fullon recant. She loves shoes, but is wary of appearing to love them too much. Common themes among the responses include practicality (“I love shoes, but I’m more of a practical person”), previous youthful immaturity (“Well, I used to really love shoes, but not so much anymore”) and gender (“I love shoes, but I just can’t explain it to you”). Both Dr. Joti Samra and Kimberly Moffit suggest there is an element of shame in these responses – the shame of financial irresponsibility or appearing overly indulgent. Men, and Women’s Footwear Perhaps it’s more than any man could hope to understand. Are these deflections merely cautious or polite, intended to ward off an interloping male, or do they indicate deeper, more complex layers of meaning?

October 5th of last year a cargo ship ran aground off New Zealand and spilled toxic oil. Thousands of sea birds were killed, but 343 blue penguins, the smallest penguin species, were taken under the wing of quickly formed wildlife rehabilitation facilities. The birds were cleaned and looked for as many weeks as it took to get them back to health. In one of the staged releases, these little guys, who had not seen the sea in a couple of months, made a bee line for the cool waters in a happy

determination with which everyone can identify. Do you see yourself in these penguins? Are you most like the bird at the rear leaning forward and taking as large a stride as possible, or the one nearest the water with head down ready to jump back into the waves, or the guy on the right with both wings in the air and both feet off the ground using his abundance of enthusiasm to propel himself home? Marty Melville/Getty Images

A Chip off the old Rock by Johnny Lucas. Photography: Rick O’Brien.

He says he has the best job in Canada. He says Leo’s serves the best fish & chips anywhere. Those two statements are so obviously correct that you have to try to find the truth of it when he says he’s not a comedian.

If you want to get to know someone, one of the best ways, at least for a first date, is to have a meal with them. Rick Mercer and I were both in St. John’s and I was happy to dine wherever Canada’s favourite “TV guy,” as he calls himself, wanted to go. There are now some great and fancy restaurants in St. John’s which I thought the hometown boy might like to show off. But no. I suppose if you could predict what Rick Mercer is going to say you’d be – Rick Mercer. In much less than a second, Mercer chose Leo’s Fish & Chips for our meeting. It made sense. In Toronto or Vancouver, Leo’s might be “retro,” in St. John’s it’s just the way it is; it’s authentic. The Real Boy Mercer is authentic too. “I can’t tell you how important this restaurant is to me” was almost the first thing out of Mercer’s mouth when we met. “Because like, I’ve never, ever … well for starters I lived up the street, about a hundred feet up the street for a long time. I’ve never come back to Newfoundland in about 15 years and not come to eat at Leo’s. Ya, absolutely. That’s the only thing I know I’m doing. I know I’m visiting Mom, right, going to Middle Cove, eating Sunday dinner at my parent’s place and I know I’m coming to Leo’s.” Talking with Mercer is great, and yes, it’s different than watching him on the tube. He still does most of the talking, which is right and proper because he’s the star and I’m there to encourage him to talk. But at a certain point you realize that this is a guy who the night before stood on stage and talked and performed into a full theatre with all the lights on him, running completely on his own steam and having everyone in the place in the palm of his hand. Sitting in the familiar comfort of Leo’s and having a smiling and willing audience, even if it was just an audience of one, I could feel Mercer’s energy building. I know that he would have happily and entertainingly bubbled forth with a lovely monologue starting with Leo’s and pinging all around the province and the contents of his happy and hyperactive mind. But I did something you can’t do on TV: I interrupted. It could have been bad. >

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But it wasn’t. He’s the star, I’m not, but damn it, I had 90 minutes with him not 90 days. So I tried to match his energy and get in on the conversation. Matching this guy’s energy is a fool’s errand but he did sort of honour me by turning me into his straight man. Once a Newfoundlander... “Rick,” I said, “you now live in Toronto and although I’m from Ontario, if I were to live outside the province for a long time, I would cease to be an Ontarian. So are you a Newfoundlander now, or what?” Silly me, I thought this might be thought provoking. But there was a dead pause and Rick looked almost crestfallen. “I find that very strange.” He replied looking even sadder. But then he thought of a political angle and rallied, “I was reading an article in the G&M and Stephen Harper was quoted talking about this financial regulator. And he’s been widely quoted as saying that ‘as an Albertan I have no interest seeing this industry centralized in Toronto.’ And I thought: The man grew up in Toronto. I cannot envision any scenario - any scenario - in which I’d say ‘as an Ontarian, British Columbian, Parisian. I don’t want to see something in Newfoundland.’ You’re from Newfoundland, you’re a Newfoundlander.” “Forever?” I asked. “Yes of course,” says he in much less time than it took him to decide on lunch at Leo’s. Non-Newfoundlanders such as me, do think of Newfoundland as a special place. It’s a hard life, it was harder for many centuries and it seems to produce a disproportionate number of people who make us laugh.

But what does Mercer think is special about his home province? The answer was heartfelt, and for this guy, not all that articulate. Here’s his response, and imagine Mercer hesitating and running an internal movie of his formative years on The Rock: Newfoundland is like... When you talk, Newfoundland ...is just a very different place, and for a lot of different reasons. You know, we didn’t join Canada until 1949, we’re an island, we’re right out on the edge, we’re physically removed, it’s an exciting uncomplicated culture. People are funny. It’s a beautiful part of the world. It’s a, a spectacular part of the world, even growing up I knew that. You know people look back in hindsight and they think, “where I grew up is pretty cool.” I always knew that I was very lucky to be growing up here. Fun, making fun, and making fun of Newfoundland, St. John’s at the very least, feels the same about Mercer. During the course of our interview, people came and went at Leo’s, many of them casually acknowledging the TV star in the booth talking to the mainlander. Every “Hi Rick” was reciprocated by a warm response and major eye contact. Around central St. John’s, posters with Mercer’s face in a typical wry expression advertising his one-man show were plentiful. He was delighted to hear that on at least one of them someone had drawn a long curly moustache. Is there any doubt that one of the reasons Mercer likes, or needs, to return to Newfoundland periodically is to confirm that success has not gone to his head?

“I’ve no interest in doing anything that’s not funny. I don’t want to try to be important. That’s the kiss of death in our office: if somebody says it’s not funny but it’s important, they’ll get booed out of the room.”

Newfoundlanders would spot that in a moment and take their boy in hand. Fish and chips deep-fried in lard must be brain food, because it occurred to me that a large part of Mercer’s humour and appeal is spotting people who have perhaps lost a bit of their personal modesty and skewering them in an insightful manner that is never cruel. Rick is too Conservative “I’m personally far too conservative for Stephen Harper,” says Mercer with a calm voice and a twinkle in his eye. No need to urge him here, he knows where he’s going with this. “Ya, he likes to spend too much money and he doesn’t care where it’s coming from... We were in deficit before the recession, I remember the entire country buckling down and getting our deficit under control. We blew the biggest surplus Canada ever had.” This is not funny stuff, but it’s engaging and serious. And lest we think Mercer might not quite be ready to be Minister of Finance, he’s got a very personal perspective based on his experience with the management of the LSPU Hall where he performed professionally a few decades ago. “It’s the lefty actors in downtown St. John’s that refuse to run a deficit! Isn’t that ironic?” Important to be funny It was then that I commented that for a comedian he was pretty serious. “Ya, I don’t even describe myself as a comedian.” And added, “I’ve no interest in doing anything that’s not funny. I don’t want to try to be important. That’s the kiss of death in our office: if somebody says it’s not

funny but it’s important, they’ll get booed out of the room. There’s lots of people trying to be important.” Not a comedian, yet so funny, not trying to be important, yet bringing up important things. Still stuffing myself with cod & chips, I might have stumbled on the essential contradiction of Rick Mercer. A Future in Politics Is there a fish or cut bait moment with Rick Mercer and politics? There is a Facebook page supporting Rick Mercer for Prime Minister. Asked whether he’s tempted to get into politics himself, the loquacious Newfoundlander gave the shortest answer possible: No. Naturally, I had to follow up with a short question: Why? Because on the show I really love politics, but it’s like someone who really loves baseball. And I think why I really love politics is why I’m able to write about it. I think you have to have a body of knowledge, obviously, if you’re going to write about something, and you have to have a passion for it. And I have all those things. But I think there’s a difference between being a great sports columnist and then someone coming along and saying “Do you want to coach the Yankees?” Well sure, but just because you’re a good sports columnist doesn’t mean you can coach the Yankees. One thing I appreciate is having an opinion. You give up your right to an opinion when you get involved in party politics. Of course, I wish he’d said yes and announced the formation of a new political party, but out of respect for this thoughtful, funny guy, I had to believe him. For now at least.

Too normal? And what’s fun for Mercer that has nothing to do with his very fun job? “I like to travel. Coming home to Newfoundland every year for a week or ten days is a big highlight of my year. I donno, I hang out with friends, sit on a deck, drink a beer.” Probably too normal a guy to be Prime Minister, I was thinking. The Rick Mercer Report is fun to watch, and it looks like Rick is always having fun on it, but is that possible? He’s a pro, he could probably fake having fun if he had to, but it’s so hard to believe that he could be faking it. Is he? You know, you can’t fake that. I’ve tried to fake that because of course there have been days when I haven’t had a good time. That’s why I consider myself so lucky. I do believe that I have the best job in the country. In fact, if I had to sit down and write out my dream job, this would be it. Absolutely. Absolutely.

“You know people look back in hindsight and they think “where I grew up is pretty cool” I always knew that I was very lucky to be growing up here.”

Asked to recall a particularly fun experience on his show, he didn’t have to think long. “When we were growing up, my brother was obsessed with the Snowbirds. He became a commercial pilot. I didn’t care at all about the Snowbirds, but I got to fly with the Snowbirds.” Was your brother jealous? “He was that day!” He said with a big laugh and generous grin. Always at Leo’s Lunch was over, the fish and chips were mostly gone and it was time to ask Rick to pose for a few photos before we parted. As obliging as ever, he whipped out a small kit of makeup and expertly gave his face a quick brushing so that there would be no glare in the pictures. His last quip was funny, serious, absurd, professional and quick, just like the man himself. “I always do my makeup at Leo’s.”

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If a baby is not cared for, it will die. That is the harsh reality of life. Children who are given food but little love develop slowly, are often thin and small for their age.

Handle with Care by Peter Adrianenssens

w w w. th eh appy m ag azi n e. c o m / 1 /4 2

Happiness begins from the moment when parents decide that they want to have children, not from the moment when they discover that they are actually on their way. Parenthood is happier – and its resultant children are also happier – if the process is a conscious one. In other words, parents must make a deliberate choice to have children, must wish to experience the ups and downs of pregnancy together, must welcome with equal joy the birth of a son or daughter, must look forward to the new life that will gradually grow and develop its own future. If you can do this, then your children will be something more than just someone to look after you when you are old; or someone to take over the family business in later years; or someone to have that glittering sports career you so dearly wanted for yourself. If you can do this, then you will ensure that your children grow up in an atmosphere of love and contentment, rather than violence and rejection. If we want more happy people, then we need to make greater efforts to inform future parents about the importance of consciously opting for a child. Because as a parent you must be willing to make a lifelong promise to that child: ‘I will always be there for you, wherever you are, whatever you do, I will never let you go, you can always count on my love and support.’ Unconditionally. In other words, you must make the promise without expecting (let alone insisting) that these feelings are reciprocated. For the child, having happiness is the unconditional element in their parents’ promise. And the conscious feeling of being happy grows from the unconscious state of having happiness. Is this naïve? Is this spoiling your child? No, because research has confirmed that children are born completely defenceless at birth. In other words, they are totally dependent on adults. If a baby is not cared for, it will die. That is the harsh reality of life. Children who are given food but little love develop slowly, are often thin and small for their age. But if a parent cherishes a baby, speaks to it, cuddles it, feeds, it, tickles it, laughs with it, then both parent and child will discover the most wonderful of all nature’s gifts: true empathy and true attachment between two human beings. This attachment is a kind of human ‘glue’ – and sticks a whole lifetime long. This means that your toddler can sit at school, safe in the knowledge that you have not forgotten him. It means that your teenage daughter can call you in the middle of the night if she needs to, and knows that you will always come. It means that your grown-up children can still call you for emergency babysitting duty, when their regular sitter fails to turn up. They all know that you have sworn an oath: ‘I have given you life and so I will always be there for you.’ Unconditionally. Researchers are continuing to discover more and more about the neurological anchoring of the attachment processes between parents and children, which can have an influence on emotional, intellectual and relational development. If children are abandoned to their fate, or are forced to live in a climate of continual parental stress or partner violence, or have a parent with serious psychological difficulties, parts of their brains will develop

with fewer than normal neural networks, when compared with children who are brought up in a loving environment. These deficiencies can later translate into reduced linguistic ability, a reduced ability to recognize and express emotions, a higher likelihood of impulsive, aggressive or hyperactive behaviour, greater difficulty in acquiring maturity, and a reduced capacity to empathise with others, which significantly increases the risk of personality disorders, juvenile delinquency and partner violence. Happiness is therefore a choice, and it is a hard choice. It is not something romantic, that suddenly overcomes you. It is a gift that you have, a gift that you can give to someone else. Whoever receives the gift of happiness from their parents will also find it easier in later life to accept the responsibility of passing that gift on to others. If you choose to have a child, we must dare to say to each other: this child has the right to receive happiness. This can cause some parents to doubt their ability to bring up their children properly, but the very fact that this doubt exists suggests that the current generation of parents will accomplish their task. Doubt is a good attitude for any educator (and parents are educators, too!) who wishes to achieve a true meeting of minds with a child. >

What starts as a specific attachment with parents, will gradually develop into a broader emotional network with family, neighbours, friends at school, teachers and other ‘educators’. During the teenage years, peers will assume a prominent place in their lives. Sometimes this can have a healthy effect on the development of young people, but sometimes it can be damaging. Many parents underestimate their influence during this phase of their child’s life, and often feel pushed to one side in the emotional maelstrom of rapidly developing adolescence. Appearances are deceptive, however, and your offspring’s seeming indifference is purely superficial – providing you have invested enough love and effort in your child’s growth from the day of its birth. If your teenager is frightened, lonely or in trouble, he will always know who to turn to first. The human glue will do its work – and he will go looking for his parents.

Happiness is not a series of pleasant moments which you share with your children. These moments are certainly fun, and can add a great deal of pleasure to life. However, happiness is much more than that. It is the quiet contentment which comes from the certain knowledge that there will never be a moment when your child, no matter how old he or she might be, will ever feel truly alone in the world. You know – as Milton Erickson has put it – that they will always hear the voice of their parents whispering softly in their ear. Professor Peter Adrianenssens in a child and adolescent psychiatrist and family therapist. He is clinical professor at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) and is founder and director of the Confidential Centre for Child Abuse & Neglect. Adapted from The Voice of Your Parents by Peter Adriaenssens, and excerpted from The World Book of Happiness, edited by Leo Bormans, published by Firefly Books, 2011 ($29.95 paperback). Special thanks to Dan Piraro for his Happy Homelife cartoon.

Smart and Emotional by Janet Heisey

I have a five year old car that still makes me smile. Is it so wrong of me to look at a newer model?

When Smart cars were first introduced to Canada, I bought one. My Smart and I have had a very nice five years together. I use it only as a city car, and with my disability parking permit (yes that’s legit) it feels as if I can go anywhere and park anywhere. I love the feeling of freedom; I love its perky and distinctive looks. In short, I love my Smart. I suppose I feel loyal to it too, so it was with a tiny bit of guilt that I agreed to test drive a new model. I rationalized this the way a happily married man does who cannot help noticing a pretty woman: “just looking,” seeing the menu does not mean he’s going to have a meal - that kind of thing. (Will my husband read this?) I assured myself, and the Smart in my driveway, that my curiosity was completely innocent.

w w w. th eh appy m ag azi n e. c o m / 1 /4 6

Clever Changes Not all that much has changed in five years, but all changes do seem to be for the better. Now, Smart cars have an actual glove compartment! Yes, that’s a small thing, but what do you expect? My model has a box under the driver’s seat that holds documents and the space normally occupied by the glove compartment in my car contains only an air bag. Now, they’ve figured out how to have both at a small cost in passenger space. If you have not actually sat in a Smart car, it may be hard to appreciate that there is passenger room to spare! I suppose there are people who measure such things, and I’d be willing to bet that the ratio of total volume to useable passenger volume is higher in a Smart than in other vehicles. They are incredibly well designed. I would go so far as to say they are very Smartly designed. The shocks in the new Smart are better than in my five year old model, and I think that is probably a result of an improvement in the new model rather than five years of wear on my car. Mine is our family’s second car and has quite low mileage. The new model also shifts more smoothly, but this is a relative term because there is nothing smooth about the Smart’s automatic gear change: to the uninitiated, every gear changes feels as if the car has run out of gas for a fraction of a second, and then springs back to life. The new model still feels that way, but less so. It also has a much better sound system, GPS navigation, excellent Bluetooth phone synchronization, cup holders and can play music and even video from a memory chip. I didn’t try to play video. The Need for Speed And it’s gutsier; some would say “less gutless.” There is no trouble in getting to 120 km/hr on a freeway. Reviews of $100,000 cars like to say that 120/km/hr feels like 40 km/hr.

In a Smart, 120 feels like 120 – but not 240. The new model has paddle shifters on the steering wheel – just like racing cars! They are a nice novelty, I suppose, but not really sufficient to cause Ferrari any concern. On the other hand, you could buy a Smart for each of your friends for the price of one Ferrari. Last summer they organized a Smart rally to the Yukon just to prove it could be done, but long distance driving will never be the main purpose of this little vehicle. Soon an electric model is coming out which I see as acknowledgement that the core use of Smarts is for city driving. I’m fine with that, but it’s nice to be reminded that my Smart’s performance is more than acceptable on the open road. One day I may decide to forget the shopping and drive to Whitehorse. The Big Three Highway driving, interior space and safety are the three reservations that people who don’t know Smarts have about them. The designers anticipated those things, I checked them all out five years ago. To me they are old news and I like their solutions. For two people, the space is equal to and more convenient than something like a Mercedes SL65 which costs about 12 times as much as the Smart I test drove (and has four times as many cylinders). In a Smart you sit quite high and you have a great view of the road. For safety, the big deal is the one piece frame that all those German and Swiss engineers obsessed about for years. If you get a kick out of this sort of thing, there are plenty of crash test videos on-line. The dummies usually survive. Most important to the interior space, and frankly to everything about a Smart, is not the statistics, but the feeling. It just feels quite big enough. My car has a retractable roof. The new one we test drove has a roof that is mostly glass, so even in February, it gives a nice bright, non-claustrophobic feeling. Keeping Them Both I admit that emotions played a large part in my decision to buy a Smart. As with all emotional decisions, what’s right for one person, is never right for everyone. I probably would not want everyone on the road to have a Smart anyway. I have no regrets at all about my purchase five years ago, but I’m not inclined to upgrade. My five year old Smart still gives me a combination of good feelings and practicality that works for me. I’m also not trading in my husband. Yes, I think he will read this. The base price for a 2012 Smart car is $13,990. The model we tested has a MSRP of $20,315.

Janet Heisey is not an automotive journalist. The largest of her three children is 6’4” and shows no signs of becoming too big for her Smart car.

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Tryptophan: what a Happy Brain Needs by Lorenzo M. Diana ND

The biochemical processes in the human body that control and affect mood are exceedingly complex and imperfectly understood. We do however, believe that the chemical most responsible for mood is serotonin. If you have insufficient serotonin in your system you are most likely to be depressed and may exhibit other symptoms such as poor appetite and unsatisfactory sleep. Serotonin production in the body requires, among other factors, the presence of the essential amino acid, tryptophan. A deficiency in tryptophan will result in a deficiency of serotonin. Tryptophan is found in protein-based foods. It is particularly plentiful in chocolate, oats, dairy products, dates, red meat, eggs, fish, poultry, chickpeas, and pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Urban myth tells us that turkey is very high in tryptophan, but in fact turkey contains about the same amount of tryptophan as chicken: ¼ gram of tryptophan in 100 grams of meat, the highest concentrations being in the dark meat. On an ounce for ounce basis caribou meat has almost twice as much tryptophan as turkey. A therapeutic dose of tryptophan is typically in the range of 500 milligrams for every 50 pounds of body weight so a one hundred pound woman would need to consume a pound of turkey a day, or half a pound of caribou, to achieve this dose. Just as there are many reasons why a person could be unhappy, including inadequate serotonin, there are many possible causes for not producing sufficient serotonin, including a tryptophan deficiency. Unfortunately, there are no outward symptoms associated with low tryptophan levels which are not also associated with the very wide range of symptoms associated with serotonin deficiency. The only dependable way of identifying tryptophan or serotonin deficiencies is testing. The presence of tryptophan alone does not guarantee the production of serotonin at healthy levels. If you are tested and found to have low levels of tryptophan, your doctor then has the additional challenge of determining the best way to introduce tryptophan to your body. Tryptophan is available by prescription in pure form or as 5 5 Hydroxytryptophan (generally known as 5-HTP) which is

actually an intermediary compound occurring during the process in which tryptophan is converted to serotonin. 5 HTP occurs naturally in several botanicals, including griffonia simplicifolia. It is also possible that even with adequate amounts of tryptophan present, or even 5-HTP, the tryptophan will be not accessible to the body for the creation of serotonin. A sufficient quantity of vitamin B6 must also be present and, in some individuals, this metabolic process is compromised or not functioning at all. This lack of ability to metabolize 5-HTP is common in diabetics. If you are already taking anti-depressants your doctor is unlikely to add tryptophan to your prescription as this may run a risk of causing “Serotonin Syndrome.” The symptoms of Serotonin Syndrome (excess serotonin) are almost the same as those of low serotonin. There are no reliable statistics on the incidence of tryptophan deficiencies and testing for this essential amino acid is not one of the standard tests routinely done even for people suffering from mood disorders. Medicine is still in the early days of understanding brain function. The more we learn about the intricacies and complexities of how our bodies function and how they go awry, the more we understand the importance of an active lifestyle and a balanced, diverse diet, which may well include turkey, chocolate and even caribou.

Dr. Diana lectures extensively and practices as a Naturopathic Doctor at several clinics in southern Ontario. He may be contacted through the clinics’ website, www.mnhc.ca

w w w. th eh appy m ag az in e. com/ 1 /4 9

A Whole World of Happiness by John Wright

CHANGES IN GLOBAL HAPPINESS SINCE 2007

50%

40%

30%

26% 26% 22% 21% 21% 20% 20%

24% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 24% 23% 24% 23% 22% 23% 23% 23% 23% 22% 22%

20%

10%

0% APR OCT APR DEC DEC MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV 2007 2007 2008 2008 2009 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011

This is the first instalment of a major global study by Ipsos and it is exclusive to What Makes You Happy. Questions arising from the 475,000 responses are as fascinating as the answers.

w w w. th eh appy m ag azi n e. c o m / 1 /5 0

Believe it or not, there’s a web page on Wikipedia that describes “Gross National Happiness” in the same detail as its “Gross National Product” cousin just a few web clicks over. It actually makes for fascinating reading because it takes us back to its coining in 1972 (by Bhutan’s then King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, don’t ya know) and then brings us forward into the 22nd century in which personal happiness— which some would suggest is a hard thing to find even nowadays, among global financial debacles and collapses, wars, tsunami’s, nuclear meltdowns and all other manners of turbulence, tremor and terrorism—cannot only be found, but intellectually sliced and diced You see, it’s actually quite simple.

PERCENTAGE OF POPULATIONS REPORTING TO BE VERY HAPPY IN NOVEMBER 2011

Sweden 20%

Poland 15%

Italy 13%

Brazil 30%

Australia 28%

Turkey 30%

Canada 27%

Great Britain 21%

Indonesia 51%

Global Average 22%

India 43% United States 28%

Belgium 16%

South Africa 21%

South Korea 7%

Saudi Arabia 21%

Argentina 23% Hungary 6%

France 15%

China 19%

Japan 16%

Mexico 43%

Spain 11%

Germany 16%

Russia 8%

THE INTENSITY OF GLOBAL HAPPINESS 92%

89%

77%

87% 88% 85% 86% 77%

79%

78%

42%

82%

85%

83% 80% 79% 80% 78%

78% 71%

69%

67%

Rather Happy Very Happy

68% 62% 64%

46% 33%

57%

60%

49%

57%

59% 58%

55%

62%

58%

61%

59%

66%

69%

64%

44%

65% 56%

53%

52%

56%

62%

22%

51%

43%

30%

28%

27%

23%

21%

20%

19%

16%

15%

13%

11%

Total

Indonesia

India

Mexico

Brazil

Turkey

Australia

United States

Canada

Argentina

Great Britain

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Sweden

China

Belgium

Germany

Japan

France

Poland

Italy

Spain

Russia

South Korea

Hungary

38%

First, let’s take it for granted that happiness is all relative. Hey, my happy is because I make lotsa money while your happy comes from just lounging on the beach – that type of thing. But that makes it worth measuring and trying to quantify. And especially for pollster measurers like us at Ipsos, when we see that most people in the world are happy on average (boring yawn) we’re really interested in the intensity of that happy feeling, whose really got it and who doesn’t and has it changed over time—for better or worse (fascinating stuff, that). In short, if it’s something that can be measured, we gotta do it. Second, we note that there are other similar surveys on happiness (also, yawn). In fact, a great big one just came out to kick off 2012 and put Canadians 23rd out of 58 on the new Global Happiness Index—they added the question on happiness to respondents for the first time with a group of other questions asked since 1977 and then cross tabulated the demographic and socio-economic findings from the other questions to see just who these happy and not so happy people were.

Then there are other world surveys that are one offs—they ask people if they’re happy and then give them a choice from a list of things that might make their lives happy—and then they call this the impact of “subjective well being.” Again, as I said at the outset: my happy might be based on a good that you think is not so good but I don’t know your good so I’m not into your happy and you can’t get into mine. Then, notwithstanding the multitude of academics, psychologists, psychiatrists, anthropologists and numerous other emotional finders and digger outers, there are foundations, web sites and a host of institutions who now make their raison d’être out of being very serious, and sometimes frustrated, about what makes people happy. On top of that, there are now governments, politicians, bureaucrats and (eventually regulators, no doubt) who are now trying to make this happiness stuff into government policy. Just ask the British Office of National Statistics, who is now conducting surveys on the happiness of its loyal subjects presumably so the said loathed and hated

Rather Happy Very Happy

CANADA 86% 88% 86% 86% 88% 86%

58% 64%

64%

62%

22%

24%

30%

87% 84%

84% 84%

59%

57%

53%

58%

55%

28%

31%

29%

30%

25%

86%

87% 88% 86% 85% 85% 85% 86% 86% 86% 84% 84% 85% 84% 84%

54%

58%

32%

26%

59% 57%

57%

28%

29%

25%

59%

28%

59%

29%

58%

59%

28%

26%

59%

61%

59%

61%

59%

26%

25%

27%

23%

27%

57%

28%

APR OCT APR DEC MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV 2007 2007 2008 2008 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011

politicians and governments can proclaim that despite all that is being done to taxpayers they could be a lot less happier.

whom the sentiment matters most and who is prepared to give real voice to it if things come to push and shove.

Here’s my point: this measuring the happy stuff train left the station exactly 40 years ago from Bhutan and it has created an ever-burgeoning happy analysis and policy wonk industry where every yearly snapshot released to the media has to have some sensational shift or rumble to get coverage and where the industry takes the findings and conjures up white papers, conferences and government policies as to why people feel the way they do given their sometimes incredibly different and diverse living and life conditions.

This is especially true when it comes to happiness. Most people measured around the world are relatively happy, pretty much all the time, so it’s the bottom line of happy people we need to see movement in if we are to gauge the progress of decline of real happiness. It’s a little like this: we can measure the quantity of people who are happy (and that is worth measuring) but we need to focus on the quality or intensity of happiness and see how to grow it.

As a rule, when most people in a survey agree on something —like 70% or more—I pay a good deal of attention to “intensity” in the results. I’m interested in those who feel really strongly about something rather than the more malleable “somewhat” middle ground. After all, if everyone agrees or disagrees on something, it’s not the top lines that really matter but rather the group within that top line for

So at Ipsos we decided to do something radical: we took a benchmark in 2007 and 2008 in those 24 countries with a very simple question which is this: “Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy or not happy at all.” Then we asked it monthly—yes every month—since March 2010. So, for those counting, that’s 21 consecutive happiness polling questions to this publication and 25 in total—with an astonishing aggregate sample of 475,000 respondents.

Rather Happy Very Happy

INDONESIA

90% 90% 89%

32%

58%

36%

54%

37%

52%

93%

92% 91%

92% 92% 91% 91% 92% 91% 92% 91% 92% 89% 89% 90% 89%

45%

44%

37%

41%

37%

42%

47%

52%

49%

52%

49%

87% 86%

38%

43%

50%

36%

37%

51%

49%

54%

39%

52%

42%

37%

50%

54%

42%

50%

39%

42%

54%

51%

40%

49%

MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011

And anyone in this field knows that what’s of value is the longevity and consistency of the tracking—the steady drumbeat of the methodology and responses that move through the global population while individual events and things take their daily toll or give people hope and joy. This way, no single influence can shake the results of a snapshot and tilt the picture out askew. As I said, we are not at the point at which we yet understand what makes happiness trend in one direction or another, but these measurements are a start. It’s interesting in the trend lines you will see that there are no apparent large correlations between the fluctuations in the levels of happiness reported and the movements in other indicators such as the Consumer Confidence level, stock market or financial meltdowns or even significant national or international events. Frankly, you’d expect at least some correlations between economic crises, natural disasters, periods of war or peace, and so on. And it should raise some valid questions where events precede changes in happiness, and therefore, presumably have a hand in causing the changes. We’d also like to know what the “output” is in countries that characteristically

follow changes in happiness, if people are happier, aside from maybe dancing in the streets or more babies being born months later. Here’s an example from our poll: consider the case of the Turks who report that 11% of their population is very happy in December of 2008 and then, in June of last year, showed 39% of its population as being very happy. Comparable figures for Canada are 24% very happy in December 2008, and 28% very happy in June of 2011. A 250% increase in Turkey and a 16% increase in Canada? In May 2010, the Turkish government denounced Israel for landing commandos on a boat headed for Gaza. This was also at a time when the Turkish government made a joint declaration on non-nuclear fuel proliferation with Iran and Brazil. It was also the month the Grand Prix tickets went on sale in the country and the Historic Ship Regatta got underway. The bottom line: lots of things were going on and the “happy industry” will look into it and get back to us because we want to show you something different and, a bit revolutionary. Let me explain.

TURKEY

Rather Happy Very Happy 89% 90% 85%

87%

82% 83% 81%

88%

88% 84%

83%

87% 85% 85% 86% 87% 84% 84% 85% 85%

75% 70%

66% 68% 64% 50%

52% 59%

51% 45%

55%

53%

27%

29%

28%

56%

52%

56%

50%

46% 54%

52%

53%

32%

50%

49%

52%

57%

36%

34%

30%

55%

50% 51% 54%

14%

15%

18%

11%

30%

34%

37%

31%

32%

33%

38%

29%

39%

37%

30%

Sure there are differences from place to place—and a few are up or down smartly—but on the whole, people on the planet share a great stability in their embrace of the joy gene.

So, what you’ll see in this magazine, for the very first time, is the pulse of happiness. And you’ll actually be astonished at how little the intensity and overall numbers change among countries and people. Sure there are differences from place to place—and a few are up or down smartly— but on the whole, people on the planet share a great stability in their embrace of the joy gene. And over the next few issues, you are in for a real treat. Remember how the happiness industry has made a science out of trying to figure out what makes folks in the world happy? Well, we could have done the same thing too. Every time we have asked the happiness question, we’ve also asked a set of standard questions—yup, every time—on everything ranging from economic and personal satisfaction to purchase intentions and optimism, from job anxiety to the stock market and retiring. And on and on, along with all those other demographic and station in life questions. Then we could have rolled up all of those results into a hunk of numbers, moulded it into something and said at the very end: based on everything we think might make people happy, well, er, here it is. >

Rather Happy Very Happy

HUNGARY 60% 51%

56% 56%

54% 53%

53% 50%

52% 50%

48% 50% 49% 49% 48%

46% 47% 44% 43% 44% 44%

49% 41%

10%

46%

49%

46%

50% 42%

11%

47% 44%

46%

41%

42%

43%

42%

41%

42%

39%

38%

MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011

But we didn’t do that. Not even close. Instead, we did something I think you will agree is revolutionary, given all the happy industry pretzel twisting that has been going on: we just asked people what the things are in their lives that cause them, or could cause them, to be most happy. Imagine that! We asked them. And they told us. And over the next editions of these cool and happy magazine editions, you’ll read some things that the happy industry might be unhappy to see: real people telling you what really makes them happy without an ounce of clay added or even a puff of smoke with a mirror. Unadulterated happiness. And now in your trembling hands. Who knew coming from Canada? Don’t get me wrong. All those other folks out there trying to find the Higgs boson elementary particle of the joy gene should keep at it. As they say in the Ottawa Valley, “If it makes ya happy, fill your boots”. For us here at Ipsos and for the editor and publisher, going straight to the folks and having them tell us their joy secrets couldn’t make us happier. So, is the world a happier place than it was in 2007? Despite all “troubles” as the Irish would say, the answer is “yes”’ —in fact it’s up three points. And are there some country populations much happier than they were? You betcha, and read on. Enjoy. More of this study is posted on the News and Polls section of the Ipsos website at www.ipsos.ca/en/news-polls John Wright is the Senior Vice President of Ipsos, a global market research company and Managing Director of the Public Opinion Polling Division. John is a frequent speaker and author on the subject of trends and public opinion research, and is one of Canada’s most influential pollsters.

% CHANGE IN HAPPINESS INTENSITY BY COUNTRY SINCE 2007 GLOBAL CHANGE: +3

Turkey Mexico Australia Japan Canada Germany India Argentina Italy

+16 +10 +7 +6 +5 +5 +5 +4 +4

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Fire & Water

by Lucinda Linney

Aries The ram. How do you make a ram happy? If you’re involved with one of these energetic individuals, your first question is more likely to be “How do I make him stop?” In fact, you can’t – not without changing his nature (if that is even possible) or cutting off his horns, and who wants that? Ariens are self-starters: what they lack in planning they make up for in initiative. They embody stobbornosity, which is not a word but should be. Mention this oversight of English to an Arien and don’t be surprised to see a new entry in the dictionary very soon with his or her photo beside it. Their ruling planet is Mars. The obvious association with war is a factor, but Mars is also the god of action, and in Roman mythology he is an agricultural guardian ready to butt intruders out of the garden. Ariens are loyal to the relationships and things to which they have applied their considerable patience. Lucky for this big strong ram, he’s not a loner. He does not always pick his battles very well and he gets so involved in the fight or the great cause that getting back to first principles a tough concept to get through to that bit of brain he keeps so well protected between those big horns. You won’t ever win confronting him head-on – those battles are his specialities and you should learn to appreciate that honest character. Push and he will push back harder. Threaten and fight and you may find yourself sailing over the garden fence. Stand your ground and explain calmly and he may listen and respect you for it. If that fails, climb a tree and sing lullabies for as long as it takes. Well known Aries individuals seem to share fewer characteristics than other signs, so take a close look and see how great strength of conviction and inexhaustible persistence could be common traits. Vincent Van Gogh barely sold a painting during his lifetime but continued on and on with a vision so forceful that it persists to this day. The same can be said of Stratford-upon-Avon’s most famous son whose powerful work will endure well beyond the efforts of the rest of us. And whatever your opinion of her, we all admire the way Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta pursues her own path whatever other people think. If you didn’t go to high school with her, you may know her only as Lady Gaga. The darkest beast in living memory was also an Aries. Adolf Hitler’s personal vision was so overwhelming that he was blind to anything else and so forceful that he came close to blinding and trampling the world. Note that his strongest

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efforts followed immediately upon periods of enforced inactivity and introspection – very dangerous things for an Aries, especially one with a dark nature. Be careful what the rams in your life start because chances are very good that they will finish everything. To keep your Aries happy, keep him or her engaged and busy. That big bony head works best and is happiest when it is down and purposeful.

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Pisces

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Since the days when gods walked the world, Pisceans have been charitable souls who want to do good in the world. Fish are honoured with a star sign in commemoration of saving the goddess Aphrodite and her son, Eros, from Typhon, the father of all monsters. Charities, hospitals and good causes are often founded or financed by these softhearted creatures, but less often run by them: fish tend to be loners or live in schools without the hierarchies typical of the creatures of the land.

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Leadership is not the strong suit of the Pisces character and the responsibility and conformity required to be top dog will not usually be a formula for personal fulfillment. Senator Edward Kennedy was a Piscean: always denied the top job, he nevertheless achieved a lot of good in the pond in which he found himself. Pisceans are happy in a group, and they are happy swimming the unknown depths. Yuri Gagarin, David Cronenberg and Dr. Seuss were born under this sign. What do they have in common except that all seem in their element when surrounded by things not fully understood? Perhaps this is just a requirement for the creativity that Pisceans have in great measure and for which they find more outlets than any other sign. In relationships, this fish is loyal and sensitive. A caveman with his club should look elsewhere for companionship, even though the fluid nature of the Piscean personality will go with the flow most of the time and is able to get along with just about anyone. When the current changes, so will this flexible fish, which is not to say that there is not a time to swim upstream and jump those rapids. When that happens, anyone standing in the way will not even know where and how she went. The Piscean’s greatest defence is her ability to escape and she will slip away from conflict, and sometimes from reality. When this catches up with her, you can expect a dark period followed by an even greater resurgence of charm and energy: don’t expect so-called reality to change her character. To make your Pisces self or your Pisces mate happy, just provide a warm, flexible environment and be prepared to enjoy lots of creativity and all the mysteries of the deep in which this creature is at home. The symbol for this sign is often two fishes, symbolizing the ability to be more than one thing at a time. If you don’t understand that, and who does, just enjoy it. Freedom and creativity are the best qualities of this lovable, sensitive slitherer. Michelangelo had the sun, Mercury and Venus in Pisces. He explained his creativity and life thus: I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

The Maharaja is home Were you a Maharaja in a previous life? To see how that idea sits with you, go to India and live in a palace for a few days. With more than 500 Indian Maharajas, each of whom has at least one palace, the country of Slumdog Millionaire is also a country of stately piles. by Johnny Lucas

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What does having a palace say about your personality? You don’t build a huge residence with a hundred bathrooms if you want to be alone. You don’t decorate it with fanciful turrets, strange shaped windows and acres of marble, glass and sparkling crystal if you are keeping a low profile. Palaces are built to attract people, to show off a lifestyle and have others join in the fun. Indian Maharajas lost their political power in 1971, but not their way of life. And the palaces did not lose their tradition of luxury and hospitality in the name of democracy, they just call them hotels now. A trio of the best palace hotels is distributed across the legendary northern Indian state of Rajasthan. Rambaugh: a jewel in a park Rambaugh Palace in Jaipur began life as a house for a favourite royal wet nurse and evolved into a serene fantasy set in a vast park, the exclusive preserve of a limited number of members of the local royal family and an unlimited number of attendants. Its creamy white domes protrude above the tree line, manicured lawns, formal rooms and private apartments reflecting the evolving taste and world travels of its owners. It was not originally intended to be the main residence of the Maharaja, he had the City Palace. When, in the 1920s, the crown prince appeared to be getting a little pudgy, Rambaugh was converted to a private school so that His Highness could play polo and other manly sports in the vast grounds with his chums. It worked. The young man turned into an athletic, handsome Maharaja who took London by storm. The newsreels referred to him as “the man who has everything.” While in Britain the Maharajah became engaged to a fellow Rajasthani of appropriate breeding. During the engagement he renovated his old school building and brought his bride back to live happily ever after in the fairytale home Rambaugh Palace had become. So much champagne was drunk to celebrate the birth of their first child, that the new Prince, was known as “Bubbles.”

Mahajarahs are mortal But alas, it was not happily ever after. The Maharaja died in a polo accident in the prime of his life and the dowager Maharani lived in a house on the grounds until her death at the age of 90 in 2009. Rambaugh Palace is leased for the long term to Taj Hotels, a division of the Indian steel and manufacturing giant, Tata Companies, that also owns Land Rover and Jaguar. With the backing of those deep pockets, Rambaugh and some other palaces, have been able to be beautifully maintained and keep their doors open to appreciative and well-heeled visitors.

Palaces are built to attract people, to show off a lifestyle and have others join in the fun. And somehow I got in too. For a couple of days I had a suite at the back of the palace overlooking a formal garden. I dined in all the dining rooms and had an enormous Indian dinner on the lawn. The sitar music was more intoxicating than the wine. Following an afternoon of walking around the old city, I felt slightly dusty so I phoned the spa whose attendants were standing by on my return to cure my hint of fatigue. >

Get your Jodhpurs on Two hundred kilometres west, in Jodhpur, the palace of His Highness Maharaja Gaj Singh II is completely different. In the 1920s the grandfather of the present Maharaja was said to be the richest man in the world. The Great Depression coincided with drought in Rajasthan so that his people were among the worst off in the world. Using his fortune, the Maharaja financed what we would now call “infrastructure projects:” roads, dams, railway stations and a new palace for the royal court. The new Umaid Bhawan Palace became the largest private home in the world. One million square feet of marble were used in its construction, and so much sandstone that a railway line was built up to the palace gates. Construction began in 1929 and when it finished in 1943, a never-to-be repeated palace in the Art Deco style arose from a hill just outside the city. It is the last of India’s royal palaces. Cheers your Highness The Maharaja still lives there! This charming, tactful and insightful man joined our party for champagne one evening and was not shy about expressing his frustration with the Indian government, saying that it was much too bureaucratic and did not well serve a nation of entrepreneurs. And, as proud as he is of his country’s achievements, he did allow that it would have been “nice” to have been Maharaja in his grandfather’s time. But for someone who missed being the richest man in the world and exercising absolute power by just two generations, he seems quite cheerful. His palace home is not some frivolous, indulgent whimsy. It’s a massive and solid sandstone building that sits on its hill like a lion sits on its prey. Although the lead architect was English, it is contemporary with some of the menacing monster buildings of the Third Reich. The difference is that where Albert Speir put stone raptors, the palace has carved peacocks. Where Hitler would have insisted on assembly areas and marching grounds, this palace has manicured lawns, formal gardens and real peacocks. The spa is located under the 105 foot central dome. It’s an art deco grotto staffed by calm cheerful attendants who spend five minutes washing your feet and adjusting the aroma of the room before pummelling your body in a traditional massage. It must be authentic: in the historic Maharani’s suite, there’s a room for yoga and a room only for massage.

Udaipur: The Floating Dream In this trio of Rajasthani palace hotels, Rambaugh in Jaipur might be the whimsical appetizer that gets your taste for the good life awakened. The countless tons of sandstone that form Umaid Bhawan in Jodhpur can be nothing other than a main course. Dessert is the sparking jewel of the Lake Palace in Udaipur. This white gem does not actually float on the lake, it just looks like it does. Originally built in 1743 as a place in which the crown prince could entertain his harem, it has evolved over the centuries to an ultra exclusive hotel. Unless you’re staying at the Lake Palace, you may only look at it from the shore but you may not set foot on the private launch that gets you there. The suites and rooms are a mixed assortment of cavernous, ornate and cheerful spaces, each as different as the line of Maharanas who added to the palace. Exclusively for swingers Several suites have the traditional matrimonial swinging beds with bells in the bedrooms, and although they don’t come with instruction manuals, there’s no doubt as to their purpose. They can also be used for relaxing and looking out the window onto the lake. I was so relaxed that I forgot to book an appointment on the spa boat. On the roof of the two story hotel is a restaurant (again, open only to guests). I spent one evening there, pretending that I was the Maharana of Udaipur (Maharanas outrank even Maharajas). I surveyed the Udaipur City Palace which is 1.3 kilometres in length, I felt the cool breezes off manmade Lake Pichola as members of the royal family have been doing since they created the lake in 1362, I tasted Indian foods that I’ve never seen before or since.

The “real” India? The bottom line: Does all this luxury and ostentation make one happy? I have to say that I was very happy there on my short visit! And I did have a blinding moment of insight in India, (everyone does it seems) in which I realized why Indians are generally such a happy people and not coincidentally, why the country is so populous: the answer to both is that they genuinely like people! Visiting for ten days and staying exclusively in palaces may not give me the right to generalize about India. On the other hand, the culture is so big, so strong and so pervasive that it outweighs even the kind of luxury I enjoyed and even experiencing a tiny bit of one part of it is like examining the country’s DNA. I saw a touching exchange between a rich man in a taxi and a young barefoot girl who was begging on the street. She was cajoling and he was responding. It was a respectful interaction. I imagined they both realized that in their next lifetimes their situations could be reversed. That bond of understanding united them. Of course I have no way of knowing that this is at all what they were thinking, but I was.

Elephant Polo About 6000 years ago, Indians tamed elephants and used them for heavy lifting and then as tanks in armed conflict. Their role as ancient bulldozers and weapons of mass destruction has ended, but they retain a fond place in art, imagination, and in religion. Lord Ganesh, the elephant-headed god is revered as a remover of obstacles and is often consulted at the beginning of a new venture. Elephants make you feel good, everybody likes them, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re part of our imagery (elephant in the room, jumbosized) they are big, friendly and seem only just slightly dangerous. They are the only animal with four knees. There is also elephant polo. Near Jaipur in dusty parking lot cars meet elephants. Your mahout helps you climb up into your howdah and two people, a mahout and an elephant lumber on four columnar legs along a path for 20 minutes and back in time about 200 years until arriving at the elephant polo field where lunch is laid out in the shade and a traditional orchestra plays, in the sun.

Some of our group was reticent to participate, perhaps it was images of a small elephant stampede, but I did not want to let down the palace and I was trying hard to get in touch with my previous incarnations. These elephants were not at all competitive, they moved at their usual pace up and down the field while the mahout and I tried to whack the ball rolling on the grass somewhere two stories beneath. My team of two elephants, two mahouts and two tourists won. Of course that matters! Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an international elephant polo league (elephantpolo.com) and running away to join them remains a career fallback plan.

Elephant Eloquence: Lohitiya Man who hangs on behind and prods the koonkie when speed is required. Kumla Man who remains in camp and is responsible for feeding the koonkies. Koonkie A well-trained domestic elephant chosen for his docility and patience.

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Marfi Elephant dung. Mela A fair where elephants are bought and sold. Yata Guidance of an elephant, by the mahout, with the feet. Kalouk Wooden or iron bell tied on the neck of an elephant to track its whereabouts.

Mr. Lucas travelled to and within India as the guest of Jet Airways (jetairways.com) and Taj Hotels & Resorts (tajhotels.com) and recommends them both for your consideration.

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