Happiness?

Last night I watched the first episode of Kevin McLoud's 'Slumming it' (reviewed here). He spends two weeks living in a Mumbai slum famous because of Slumdog Millionaire. He went there because it seems to have been suggested that they have a stronger sense of community than many Western societies in spite of the high level of poverty.

I am also reading a book called 'The church of Facebook'. The first chapter talks about how the evidence from positive psychology is that one of the main keys to happiness is 'Connectedness' - the sense of being part of something bigger and connected in meaningful ways to other people.

The research a few years ago suggested that Generation Y felt that the purpose of life was to be happy. At the time I read an amazing book by Tobias jones called 'Utopian Dreams', In it he visits a number of communities to work out what makes then tick. His conclusion was that those who have faith at their heart are more successful.

Is it any surprise that human happiness is most likely to be found when we realise that we are designed for relationships?