On being a happiness guinea pig…

A week or so ago, I received an interesting letter from Statistics Canada, inviting me to participate in a pilot research study about activities and feelings, and how they are related. Like the nutrition research I wrote about last week (the NutriNet-Santé study), it comes with an app to make it easier and less time-consuming for participants.

Now, I may not have told you that I was on the Board of the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation for 6 years some time back (and involved in its organization before that). I learned a lot about research while on the Board, as we worked to increase the amount of health research being done in our province. I had also participated in a pharmacy study years ago, and I realized how difficult it can be to sign up participants into a project. How could I refuse to help out with a national research study?

I could also see that close attention has been paid to privacy and security, and they explained how your data would only be shared in a form where you couldn’t be identified, and in aggregate form where everyone’s information is totalled before the results are shared.

The app makes it easy to enter my results: it alerts me 2 to 5 times a day (my choice of frequency)—I set it for 3 times, so I’ll get 2 sets of results entered even if a miss one of the alerts—and the study will continue for 30 days. After I enter my password, it asks me (on a scale of 0 to 10) how happy, anxious, relaxed, focused, and in control I am of my emotions. I also enter where I am (mostly at home these pandemic days!), what activity I am doing (creating online content right now), and who I’m with. All this takes only a minute or two to complete on my phone.

The goal of the study is to investigate how activities affect our well-being, particularly arts and culture activities, and it’s being conducted in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts and Canadian Heritage. The list of possible activities includes paid work, using/listening to/watching different types of media, doing artistic activities, eating/drinking, reading, caring for others, and so on.

What it’s made me notice, however, is that I’m almost always happy. I guess I don’t think of myself as an unusually happy person, but perhaps I am. Being retired, living in a beautiful place, and spending time with my almost always happy hubby, there isn’t much to be unhappy about! Some experts will tell you that much unhappiness and stress originates with looking back at unhappy times or worrying about things that might or might not happen in the future. Enjoying the present moment can make us happier.

I noticed the only time I had somewhat negative responses, was when I was having a bad day physically. I’m still in post-surgery recovery (taking much longer than I anticipated!) and, if I over-do my physical activities, I regret it later. My one criticism of the program is that it doesn’t ask if you are feeling pain, and we know that the ups and downs of chronic pain can quickly affect a person’s mood. As this is a pilot program, I hope I’ll have an opportunity to make comments at the conclusion of my participation.

Einstein’s happiness advice

The story goes that on one occasion, instead giving of a tip to a bellhop who was delivering a parcel to him, Albert Einstein scribbled a piece of advice on a piece of paper. Here is what it said:

“A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.”

In his opinion, the chase for money, power and influence is tiring and a source of this constant restlessness… the essence of unhappiness. His happiness came from learning new information, developing theories of how the world works, sharing results with colleagues and gaining their approval and respect.

He was also an admirer of Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century philosopher, who valued having space and time to pursue his own ideas in complete freedom. (Actually, that sounds a lot like my retirement blogging venture that you are joining me in…)

But Einstein is also quoted as saying that achieving goals, and a never-ending quest for self-improvement, knowledge, and creativity are the greatest source of personal happiness. None of this is tied to power, wealth, fame, or domination of others. Reading (and, these days, watching too much media) diverts the mind excessively from its creative pursuits, he said. We need to think and use our brains creatively to avoid falling into lazy habits of thinking, and living vicariously instead of living our own lives.

But, as important as he believed knowledge is, he said imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. (If you’re interested in reading a fascinating transcript of an interview with Albert Einstein done in 1929, check out the link in the references below.)

The study I’m participating in, “Vitali-T-Stat”, is looking at whether consuming media (a form of acquiring knowledge) or being creative makes us happier. I suspect that, if the results show that creativity creates greater happiness, this may be used to convince governments that the arts are an important and worthy investment for a country.

After all, happiness is what people want, regardless of their intermediate goals, isn’t it?

So, what makes you truly happy? Worth spending some time thinking about…

PS: I'm learning to use chalk pastels! The photo above is attempt #2 at a pastel selfie... Fun and relaxing!! I think it's making me happier... :)

References and further reading:

Vitali-T-Stat app (available on Google Play and Apple App Store

Greatest Tip Ever: Albert Einstein’s Theory Of Happiness—Medium

Viereck’s Interview to Einstein (1929)—LinkedIn