HAPPINESS SCORE
It is believed that emotions of a human
being can’t be measured because it is highly
complex to quantify emotions for being able to measure them and then guide life
in the right direction . The most important emotions of human being are:
Happiness & Love . Out
of these 2 emotions , love
is almost impossible to get quantified or be related in some way by some common
logic because love can have
many definitions while considering those
whom we love in our life such as parents, siblings ,spouse, kids and
friends . We behave in a
certainly different way with each of these members and have distinct
responsibilities towards them so that our relationship gets justified and gets
honoured the way it should be.
But, happiness is an emotion for which
if we give deep thought then we can find certain valid elements on which the
levels of happiness depend
and their virtual existence keep varying with time leading to change in the
happiness levels as well . Firstly , before I go on deeper into the concept of
Happiness score , I wish to share with you that this article is meant to
emphasize on the importance of happiness level in everyone’s life and how can
we improve our levels of happiness by somehow being able to quantify it and monitor
the progress with time. Secondly, I wish to mention that the relations expressed will definitely
interest you if you focus with your full attention without considering this as
something unreal .The elements considered are very much real and common to us .
It really doesn’t matter how rich or popular a person is because the concept
here is based on relative terms and proportions of the elements. The more
important point is that today in this busy world it is highly likely that
we see a lot of stressed and demotivated people around us. Some of them have
abundance of so called “valuable possessions” but are still unhappy which
is not only strange but also unhealthy and this calls for our special attention over
happiness .Thus, it becomes important for us to be happy and share happiness
with others.
Based on my keen interest in reading
about Happiness and some of the major factors which significantly govern the
levels of happiness in one’s life, I have conceptually tried to bring in relationship
for Happiness which is part of Human Psychology. This is quite similar to creating
Empirical relationships/formulas in various
fields of science. Few people may not consider this 100% true but I believe
that most of the people will surely agree that this is very much correct.
(Note : Empirical
Formula – It is a formula which is based on observations or experience, unlike a pure formula which is based on theory or
logic .)
Based on my readings and understanding
about human psychology there are 10 such elements which are vital few out or
trivial many and most significantly drive the happiness levels in one’s life.
The values for them shall be filled by one being true to himself/herself. These elements are :
1) Health
(one’s own and of beloved ones)
2) Optimism
3) Self
Esteem
4) Faith
(feeling strength from faith on God & humanity)
5) Liabilities
6) Extended
family (Presence of real Friends and well wishers around the person)
7) Negative
feelings of repentance or mental trauma
8) Envy
(whether exists or not in one’s life)
9) Internal
Motivation
10) Rejuvenation
(from meditation, yoga ,
exercises & spending quality time on hobbies)
What is Happiness score ?
Happiness score is a quantitative
score that is calculated from the function which brings out a number after
giving distinct value to each of the above given 10 elements based on
their type and level . If we seriously fill the values of the elements in
the empirical formula of Happiness score, then we can bring out the change in
our levels of happiness with time. Even this may bring out close comparisons
between two people’s levels of happiness if done with due diligence and
seriousness.
How does this concept works ?
There is a base level of happiness in
everyone’s life which is dependent upon the environment in which one has been
living .What happens is that when a person wins in any valuable event in life
then for some days after the victory the level of happiness increases in value
when compared to the base level of happiness, but after that period the level
of happiness again reaches back to the same base level what was there in the
beginning. On the contrary, when the person loses then for some period the
level of happiness goes down and then again reaches back to the base level of
happiness. Happiness score is aimed to bring out the changes in the levels of
happiness. (Note: Values to be
entered in the "ENTER VALUE" column based on the intensity of
feeling(Elements) at that point of time. Happiness Score can help to get the
progress between two time periods.)
The formula which I have created for Happiness Score is:
Happiness score = 2*H + 1.5(O + RJ – RM –L) + SE + F+ EF + IM - E
Considerations for the ‘Happiness score’ Formula are:
1) Out of
the 10 elements there are 7 elements which affect the happiness levels
positively, whereas 3 affect the level of happiness negatively.
2) These 10
elements have got considered for the formula because they impact the happiness
level of person quite significantly and are applicable to every human being.
There might be some more factors affecting Happiness but their impact either
may not be significant enough for the consideration or they are very rarely found, so
these factors can be
considered negligible for Happiness score calculation.
3) The value
for of each of the elements has to be out of 10. The basic assumption which is
followed to give rating for each of the 10 elements is that the perspective or
importance of the elements will
remain same in a person’s life and only their intensity or impact on
peace of mind may vary with
time based on various circumstances
.
4) Consideration
for rating of the 10 elements involved in the formula :
·
Health (denoted by H ): The positive feeling that one
experiences by being healthy and also by seeing good health of
his/her family members & close friends is really very
significant for happiness . There are 2 aspects of health – person’s own health
and the health of his/her beloved ones. We know that all good people generally
care more for their family’s health than their own health , so for our
calculation there is 1.5
times weightage to the health of the beloved ones and 1 times weightage to
person’s own health . This way the person needs to rate his family’s health out
of 6 and his own health out of 4 and then add them to gave the final value out
of 10 considering health element , such that the
lower value in both cases signifies ‘less healthy’ .
·
Optimism (denoted by O):
This is a positive feeling which indicates hopefulness. The value of optimism
has to be put out of 10 while considering the worst of unfortunate events
in a human being’s life.
·
Self esteem (denoted by SE): This is a positive feeling that
shall consider the number of significant victories in one’s life for which
he/she feels proud of and also the success % against the aspired total of 100%. The
value for this element has to be put out of 10.
·
Faith (denoted by F): This considers the positive
feeling of strength which a person experiences because of his/her faith on God
and on the whole living humanity on earth. The value for this element has to be
put out of 10.
·
Liabilities (denoted
by L): This considers the negative feeling/burden
from any financial requirement for fulfilling the needs of the family or a
significant act/duty that is mandatory to be performed towards someone in
the present or in future. This element also has to be rated out of 10.
·
Extended family (denoted by EF ):
This considers the positive feeling based
on the support and strength
that one feels from the presence of really good friends and well wishers around
himself/herself . Well wishers may include teachers, mentors or colleagues.
Important point to remember is that these people exclude our family members and
they shall be really trustworthy, honest and loving for us. If we have this
count more than 15 then the value has to be full 10. If the count of these
people is between 5 and 15 then the value has to fall in the range of 5 and 10.
If the count is less than 5 then the value for this elements has to be in
between 1 and 5 based on what we truly feel.
·
Negative feelings of repentance or mental trauma (denoted by RM): This considers the
intensity of negative emotions which one feels for a bad activity that
he/she did in the past, or any right activity which the person
finds difficult to perform currently due to certain unfavourable circumstances.
This element also considers any sort of abuse , humiliation , discouragement ,
injustice or separation from a beloved one (either
temporarily or permanent ) which the person may have experienced in the past
leading to a mental trauma .Such feelings do not get easily forgotten and thus
negatively impact happiness for many individuals even in the future . The combined value for this
element of has to be put out of 10 . The lesser such feelings are , more will
be happiness .If this is
not applicable for the person then the value may be put as ‘0’, so that the
impact of these negative feelings get ignored in the calculation .
·
Envy (denoted by E ):
This considers the intensity of negative emotions such as jealousy/envy that one feels looking somebody else’s
possession or fame. The value for this element has to be put out of 10.
·
Internal motivation (denoted by IM):
This produces positive feelings and counts for the level of motivation which
one gets from within and not from the external world. It is correct that
internal motivation is the more better way of getting motivated in which one
feels proud for his accomplishment from within to get strongly motivated and he
does not expect much praise from the people around him to get motivated .
Generally for people both come into picture. The weightage of internal
motivation in one’s life has to be considered for this point and has to be
rated out of 10.
·
Rejuvenation (denoted by RJ ): This is necessary for producing
positive feeling of pleasure and counts
for the seriousness which one shows towards healthy practices such as
meditation, yoga, exercises and hobbies . Science has proved that those who
involve in these healthy practices experience more liveliness & energy
along with low levels of stresses in today’s busy world. The value for this
element has to be put out of 10.
5) Weightage : The
weightage for each of the 10 elements will not be the same because out of 10, 5
factors govern our happiness more significantly than other 5 factors and
control our peace of mind . These 5 factors which
prove more significant for happiness level are : Health(H) , Optimism(O) ,
Rejuvenation (RJ), Liabilities
(L) & Negative feelings (RM) . For
every normal person , Health(H)
factor is always most important so we can give health the weightage of 2
times where as Optimism(O) , Rejuvenation (RJ), Negative feelings(RM) &
Liabilities(L) may have impact weightage of 1.5 times . This weightage factor
brings the distinct impact of more important elements in the calculation .You
can try this to yourself and evaluate the significance of these 5 more
important elements.
Finally, after giving the
weightage, the formula for calculating Happiness score becomes :
Happiness score = 2*H + 1.5(O + RJ – RM –L) + SE + F+ EF + IM - E
Applications
of Happiness score:
1) An individual can monitor the change
in his/her happiness level with time. If happiness score is found to have gone
down with time then the person can take interest in the various ways of
rejuvenation (as mentioned above) to improve the level of
happiness .
2) You can reach somewhat closer to your base
level of happiness(previously discussed) by calculating the happiness score for
your base level happiness by taking the average of the happiness scores over a
time period of at least 1 year . The more readings you take in 1 year the more
closer you can reach to your base level happiness .( Note : This is based on the concept that
happiness level for every person keeps changing with time depending upon the
circumstances in which the person is as that point of time .)
3) Important information can be received by comparing the
Happiness scores of 2 people in
order to get an idea about who is happier. This sometimes may be very complex
and may not prove very close, but
still a basic information can be received.
(You are welcome to put your views or comments about this
post of mine in the box(below) meant for comments. Your inputs will essentially
empower me to relate this formula even more
closely with human emotions.)
Concept for this formula created , explained and written by :
this will be really helpful.keep writing and I ll keep reading.
ReplyDelete