The history of happiness is the history of confusion

I find it easy to agree with the world authority and pioneer in the scientific study of happiness Ruut Veenhoven that,

"The history of happiness is the history of confusion"(Veenhoven, 1991,8)

This seems to hold true in many cases both on an individual as well as societal level. The things, goals and dreams that we believe will make us happy all too often seem to be misguided, if not fully at least to some degree.

This confusion or misalignment of what we believe makes us happy as opposed to what really makes us happy provides a wonderful area for improvement. Working consciously on our notions of happiness can actually open up new avenues of thought as well as more in depth understanding of our sources of happiness and well-being as well as how to protect them.

The scientific study of happiness has made significant progress during the last years. One of the pioneering journals in the field is The Journal of Happiness Studies. However, the idea put forth in this blog about Happiness Entrepreneurship seems to provide a new fruitful way of looking both at happiness and entrepreneurship. However, in what ways the promise of the idea will materialise itself is still open. In order to find some rigour into its development I have decided to start this blog to openly start collecting insights in this domain. I am first to admit that I am just pioneering into the field and lack many of the capabilities of more professional ones. But let's see where it will take us.

Taking ownership of your happiness

According, to WHO (World Health Organization) there are globally more than 350 million people of all ages that suffer from depression. The costs of depression both on an individual, family and societal level are totally unacceptable. Beyond depression people are today all too often subjected to unnecessary levels of stress, anxieties, dysfunctions and countless forms of destructive emotions with far reaching negative consequences.  

I believe something should be done. In many cases I have come to find people's pursuits of happiness to be seriously misguided.  

The calling for my blog is to share insights on a topic I have come to term Happiness Entrepreneurship. Happiness Entrepreneurship is about taking ownership of your happiness. In many cases we cannot be in charge or take full ownership of our lives. There are just too many factors beyond our control. However, I believe have a unique possibility to take an ownership of our happiness. Better understanding, models of thought and action can have far reaching potential to serve our and our loved ones happiness in life.

I believe there is great potential of human energy and flourishing to be released. I welcome you to join my journey ahead and I hope you may find something inspirational, valuable - serious fun - along the way.

With love, Markus