Probably each of us wondered if he was happy. And he also wondered: "Where do the happiest people live?" As if there is some place on Earth where you can go and be guaranteed to find peace and serenity.
In fact, no matter what ideal country we live in in terms of politics and economics, happiness is something that we create for ourselves. Psychological comfort and satisfied social needs are very important. But most of the pleasant emotions we experience thanks to the hormones that are produced in our body. With a lack of the right hormones, you will feel like the saddest person on the planet, even in a heavenly place.
Where the happiest people live: what is important for happiness
According to the worldwide report on happiness, which includes 150 countries, the happiest people live in Finland. The five happiest countries in 2018 also included: Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland. These countries maintain a balance of prosperity and social capital. People trust the government and feel stability in all important areas. In 2018, the opinion of the immigrants of each country was added to all aspects considered.
However, all these factors are external. They depend on society, power, economy, etc. Yes, they largely form psychological comfort. But there are physiological indicators in happiness as well. Let's see what indicators prevail in happy people, and how to independently influence the "hormones of joy and pleasure."
How life affects health in happy countries
In general, life expectancy is much higher in happy countries. This is due to the ability to meet basic needs: eat well, rest and not experience regular stress.
In Europe, for example, people work much less, and the salary is enough for everything you need. European supermarkets are closed on Sundays, and France has a very sparing schedule for business workers. The French, as a rule, work from 9 to 12, then rest for 2-3 hours, and then return to work until 18 or 19. Of course, this is not the case everywhere, but in European countries the right to rest, weekends and vacations is respected.
Of course, with such a work schedule, people do not experience either physical or psychological stress, which has a positive effect on their overall well-being.
How to be happy in any country in the world
What if there is no opportunity and desire to move to a happy country? It is worth remembering that wherever you live, your inner attitude will always be with you. You cannot run away or hide from your own thoughts and beliefs.
Psychological happiness is certainly important. It affects overall well-being, but there are physiological factors that we can change on our own. Our hormones are responsible for satisfaction and happiness, and we are able to influence their production. To do this, you need to adjust your diet, reconsider the ratio of work and rest, and regularly go in for sports.
How to Surge Your Joy Hormones on Your Own
Most often, endorphins are called the hormones of happiness, forgetting about dopamine and serotonin. But they also influence the feeling of happiness. The more of these hormones, the happier the person is. To feel happier, you can artificially increase their levels through nutrition. But it won't work with dopamine.
How to stimulate the release of dopamine
Dopamine is produced by the work of the pituitary gland, so nutrition does not affect it. The hormone appears as a "reward" for a pleasant time. To get dopamine, you can go for walks in the fresh air or regularly set aside time for hobbies. The hormone is also produced during sex and sports.
What to do to make endorphins
Endorphins will be produced if bananas, chocolate, grapes, strawberries and oranges are eaten regularly. But their lifespan will be short. Therefore, the production of pleasure hormones must be supported by walks and excursions to nature. It is important to know that infectious diseases, weak immunity and improper distribution of work and rest reduce the production of endorphins.
These hormones help us feel more cheerful and joyful, suppress stress, lethargy and depression, and improve mental performance.
Of course, every person on Earth dreams of a long and prosperous life in all respects. So sometimes you want to leave the frosty and snowy city for a cozy country where there are no wars, a frantic pace of life, and polluted air. But in which cities and countries is happiness hidden? Although everyone has their own idea of it. Nevertheless, researchers and sociologists have already developed a conditional measure of happiness, on the basis of which lists of geographical places where the most live are compiled annually. What is needed to be confident in the future? It turns out that there is not so much: social guarantees from the state, competent government policy, and a certain level of material prosperity.
Of course, today a huge number of ratings are compiled about where the happiest people live. Most of them are based on standard criteria: the level of financial well-being, the environmental situation, the size of GDP, the degree of corruption, potential life expectancy, freedom of life choice.
Today's list
So where do the happiest people live?
Do you think in the USA or Germany? Not at all. The Yankees took only 15th position in the rating, while the Germans - 26th. The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire were in 84th place, while the Russians took 64th. The British are ranked 21st on the list of the happiest, while the French are ranked 29th.
Then who is in the first positions in the list of countries where happy people live? According to the results of sociological research, the rating was headed by the states of Northern Europe. Moreover, for several years they have owned the palm.
Now let's move on to the practical side of the question of where do the happiest people live?
Denmark, Aarhus
The city is located on the east coast in a cozy harbor. The industry is highly developed here, and people are entertained by water skiing and yachting. Music festivals, art exhibitions, and theater performances are regularly organized in Aarhus. Guests of the Danish city enjoy spending time in local cafes and restaurants. Residents from the windows of the houses offer a picturesque view of the North Sea.
Norway, Oslo
Have no idea where the happiest people in the world live?
Sociologists say it is in the Norwegian capital. Here you can admire the amazing beauties of nature that you will not see anywhere else. The capital of the ancient Vikings is surrounded by majestic forests and massive mountain ranges. In the city, guests will always be offered an interesting cultural program: you can go to a concert, a festival, see unique sculptures that adorn local parks and squares, as well as visit the famous opera house. Oslo has a huge number of bars, clubs, supermarkets. The economic development of the city is provided by the oil industry.
Switzerland, Geneva
Even where happy countries live would be incomplete without Switzerland. Still, who will be left indifferent by the snow-capped Alpine mountains and the majestic Jura ridges? The picturesque city in the southwest of the country is at the center of this natural palette of colors. The building of the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre located along the building strikes with its architectural sophistication. In winter, tourists from all over the world come to Geneva to go skiing and snowboarding on the local mountain slopes. During the summer months, many travelers enjoy relaxing on the beaches.
The city has an amazingly beautiful fountain - Jet Deo, which every tourist who comes to this hospitable country should see.
Netherlands, Utrecht
Let's continue to consider the question of where the countries of the northern part of Europe live in this regard. However, in such a state as the Netherlands, comfortable conditions for "age" are also created for a person. In particular, in the Dutch city of Utrecht, people feel great in every sense. Here artists, musicians, poets draw inspiration. The abundance of pubs, bars and cafes gives tourists the opportunity to taste the savory dishes of the national cuisine. Visitors to the city can admire how people travel by boat down the waterway. In summer, the famous film festival is held here, where eminent actors and directors come. A dynamic life and a relaxed atmosphere make Utrecht a city of happiness.
Sweden, Malmo
This amazing city is connected to the Danish capital by the Øresund Bridge, so those wishing to see the sights of Copenhagen can easily walk along it.
Canada, Kingston
There is also a city on the North American continent whose residents are happy with life. We are talking about the Canadian Kingston, which is located in the eastern province of Ontario. It also offers a wide cultural program: from music festivals to theatrical performances. All conditions for creativity have been created here. The residents of the city adhere to the principles of tolerance and freedom of expression. Of course, these factors have contributed to the fact that people feel happy in Kingston.
Finland, Helsinki
The Finnish capital has a minimum level of corruption among officials.
There is a high level of quality of life and education, the difference in incomes of the population is insignificant. The availability of quality medical services and the optimal balance between rest and work - for many people, these factors are the key to happiness. Again, Helsinki has a highly developed culture: an abundance of theaters, philharmonic societies, museums is a vivid confirmation of this. The architectural appearance of the Finnish city is represented by the Art Nouveau style, which amazes tourists with its splendor.
Russian cities
Of course, a huge number of people are interested in the question of where the happiest people in Russia live.
According to the results of opinion polls, the capital of the Chechen Republic - the city of Grozny - was on the list of leaders. Also, Russians feel comfortable in cities such as Kazan, Tyumen, Surgut. But the Russian capital took only 52nd place in the ranking of the "happiest" cities.
The results of the sociological survey have shown that the degree of financial well-being is essential for Russians, but at the same time not the determining criterion that makes a person happy. The main factors, as it turned out, are the level of security, the feeling of a change for the better in the city where the person lives, the ecological situation. For this reason alone, cities, whose appearance has radically changed in recent years, have become leaders: Sochi, Grozny, Kazan.
Happy peoples
Today sociologists have given an answer to the question: "Where do the happiest peoples of the world live?" If we talk about the territory of Central Asia, then the Kazakhs were in the first place. The researchers said that the most smiling in Asia are the Filipinos. Further, in descending order, there are peoples living in the territory of Laos, Turkey, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Israel. The highest level of dissatisfaction with life was recorded among Uzbeks.
Residents of the South American continent consider themselves happy. The first place in the rating was taken by the Brazilians.
As for the European part, the list of the happiest peoples is headed by the inhabitants of Macedonia. The second position is occupied by the Romanians.
Unhappy
Well, the most "unfortunate" countries, according to experts, are Benin, Rwanda, Burundi, Syria, Togo. The inhabitants of these states are tired of unrest and poverty.
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Natalia Evgenievna Sukhinina
WHERE DO THE HAPPY LIVE?
stories and essays
Foreword
ORTHODOX VISION OF THE WORLD
Russian people are Orthodox. And who is not Orthodox, in fact, his Russianness becomes doubtful. For many, this is already a common place since the time of Dostoevsky. But what does it mean to be Orthodox? This is not given with birth. No, Orthodoxy needs to learn, to be brought up in Orthodoxy. But as?
Of course, to go to church: whoever puts himself outside the church is inevitable outside the faith - to whom the Church is dim, God is not the father. This again became indisputable long ago, although not for everyone, so repeating and repeating the undoubted from time to time is useful. do not take. It is necessary to comprehend the doctrinal foundations of Orthodoxy, dogmatic truths. Finally, we must try to live according to the commandments, which is very difficult.
However, in following all this, we are in danger of transforming the necessary into external, formal, which does not take possession of the entire fullness of our being. You can become a scribe, a proud Pharisee - and that will be of little use. After all, the Pharisee was extremely pious, fulfilling even more required, and nevertheless, by the Son of God Himself, he was placed below the sinner-tax collector.
To accept the truths of Orthodoxy, it is necessary, among other things, to assimilate them through one's own life experience - then they will become not an external dogma, but a guideline on the path to salvation. Why did our first parents sin? Because they did not have the experience of being outside of God. Actually, their punishment was a great blessing, a teaching provided providentially for all mankind for the sake of gaining the most valuable experience, without which it is impossible to be firm in following the will of God. (Not everyone benefited from that experience, but that's another topic.)
However, one cannot comprehend the entire complexity of life by one's own experience. The sea of life is too immense and invisible for one person. But you can use for your own good the spiritual experience of your neighbors, both good and negative. Therefore, a great thing is done by those who collect such experience bit by bit and make it a common property. It is especially valuable if everything that has been collected receives Orthodox, that is, true, illumination and interpretation.
I confess that I always undertake with great apprehension the reading of works in which the author sets for himself precisely this goal. For often Orthodoxy is understood externally: it seems that it is worth remembering the name of God, piously moved - and that's enough. And what comes out is manners, lisp, false piety, corny exaltation, deliberate obscenity. Orthodoxy does not tolerate this; rolling eyes and picture poses are contraindicated for it. Those compositions where the word is unspeakable in simplicity, and all with a "pious" grimace, only harm the cause, tearing away from themselves the souls that do not tolerate falsehood.
Natalia Sukhinina's book will give anyone who reads it not indifferently, a lot that is useful, necessary to enrich their own experience, since it offers a strict, sober, courageous, sometimes tough and at the same time wise, genuinely kind outlook on life. Here is collected the most valuable experience, revealing not speculatively, but profitable examples - being with God and without God.
Su khinina teaches Orthodoxy. Not dogmatics, of course, and not church canons - for this there are special books. She teaches the Orthodox comprehension of life using simple everyday examples. And this is simply necessary for the reader, since everyday experience is unobtrusive, but more convincing at times than the most reasonable edifications.
Who, for example, does not know the truth of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov "acquire the spirit of peace, and around a thousand they will be saved"? You can speculate about it for a long time and intelligently. Sukhinina reveals this in a negative example, in an everyday situation, recognizable by everyone (the story "The Last Flowers from Our Garden"): a non-peaceful spirit, despondency - they poison everything around them, make their neighbors unhappy, filled with a spirit of malice. And there is no mention of God's name in vain, there is no reference to the Holy Fathers, but the patristic wisdom “despondency is the delight of the devil” (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk) is too obvious to doubt it.
There is no need to retell the meaning of all the stories - you just need to read them. The author teaches to peer at people, to see the inner essence of characters and actions behind the outside. And teaches love, which begins with sympathy for even the most unattractive person. Teaches to forgive in humility when it is so difficult to forgive.
Every believer knows: God helps him in all life's circumstances, in trials, troubles. One need only seek such help with faith. And if doubts prevail? But read about non-fictional stories that happened in the lives of the most ordinary people - is this not living testimony?
You read a book and involuntarily become stronger in the conviction: it is good and easy to live with faith (not in the ordinary sense, but in the spiritual), without God it is painful and hopeless. The Russian people have long known: there is no way without God. And all these stories are one more confirmation of this.
And one side reasoning involuntarily comes to mind, which, probably, was not included in the author's calculation: how criminally those who still fight against the faith, who speak of Orthodoxy with hatred, think and behave criminally. What do they doom a person, the entire nation, trying to drive into everyone's consciousness their depressingly vulgar stereotypes of human self-sufficiency, pluralism, consumer ideals? Those who are hysterical should start talking about the need to teach children the basics of Orthodoxy, doom the people to degeneration and death. The statistics are frightening: we are number one in youth suicide. And do not deceive yourself: in disbelief, in atheism, this will become more and more aggravated. What, then, are the warriors seeking with faith? Do they not know what they are doing? Someone in their own self-righteousness and stupid self-confidence really does not know, but someone ...
The providential will of God guides a person through life, protecting him from falls (and we often resist this - and still fall). However, one should not assume that this simple idea is primitively simple. It just often requires a genuine feat of faith, because Orthodox requirements for a person are sometimes rigidly paradoxical and unacceptable at the level of everyday consciousness. In this sense, the story “A sad flutist at a cheerful bakery” becomes a kind of test for testing our faith. Our whole being resists the choice that the participants in the story told humbly made, submitting to the will of the elder. But the spiritual wisdom of an old man is only a consequence not of his own arbitrariness, but of the spiritual comprehension of Providence. To resist Providence is always to doom oneself to the coming trouble.
Review of the book by Natalia Sukhinina - "WHERE DO THE HAPPY LIVE?"
You can talk about happiness endlessly, everyone has their own concept of it. For one, happiness is wealth and fame, for another, beauty and health, and for a third, domination and power ... Many perceive it as something material and tangible, but in reality it is only a state of mind. This is something that you cannot reach with your hand, take it with you in an envelope, put it on the shelf until tomorrow. But for some reason it can be shared, it can be given, gratis and sincerely given to another.
Sooner or later we all asked ourselves the question: what does it mean to be happy? What do we lack to achieve such a mysterious state of our feelings?
Natalya Sukhinina, author of the book Where Do the Happy Live ?, invites the reader to consider the concept of happiness from an elevated, spiritual point of view. In her stories, various fates of people are presented, in which the answer to the above question is directly or indirectly reflected.
One wise man said "Happiness without God is not possible" and this is true. God is Love, God is good, God is care. How little this virtue is in life, how rarely can it be found on the thresholds of our homes. The reason is trivial and simple - lack of faith. Faith in God, faith in people and even faith in yourself.
Sukhinina teaches her readers the Orthodox understanding of life. No, she does not shout about God "out loud", does not teach any dogmas and "commandments", but all her stories involuntarily make one think about Him - about the Creator, about the Creator.
She helps readers to make their only choice, the correct and correct - moral. The choice between good and evil, loyalty and betrayal, faith and doubt. But nevertheless, the main goal of Natalia Evgenievna is the reflection of God's will in the fate of people.
Her characters are not fictional characters, but real personalities, people living in the real world with their own destinies, difficulties, dreams.
Sukhinina makes it possible to reflect on the inner world of each of us, helps to open our eyes, "look around", to feel life differently. Her sketches sometimes touch the heart so that tears involuntarily come out: now from joy, now from pity, now from emotion.
“You’re sorry that I am in this form. Guests do not come to me, I am at home. But now I ... He began to rise, leaning on the armrests of the chair. And getting up, with tiny mincing steps, he went to the wardrobe. With shaking hands, he opened it and took out a black jacket with a gray strip, with medals jingling on it. I asked: "Help me put it on, sonny." I cried. I was crying, you know? And he blamed at that moment in front of all such forgotten, decrepit, sick, outdated people, who are innumerable in the labyrinths of our houses with safely glowing windows "(from the story" Where do the happy live? ").
“I don't know anything about my son. Mother of God, hear me, sinner. I made a vow, I dress up for people to laugh, let them laugh, I keep thinking, the Lord will pity me for this, I ask you all, open up where my Valerochka is. My son ... God help ... "(from the story" An evil old woman with a blue reticule ").
No, this is not a book that can be forgotten after reading. Its content, meaning, episodes make you think, "feel", experience. Actual problems in our complex, modern world, sorrows and joys, mistakes and correct decisions, can hardly leave anyone indifferent.
It is difficult to single out any one story from the book, all of them are united by a sense of Christian empathy. They, like a caring elderly mother, teach us the most valuable "life experience" - kindness and love.
Natalia Evgenievna Sukhinina
WHERE DO THE HAPPY LIVE?
stories and essays
Foreword
ORTHODOX VISION OF THE WORLD
Russian people are Orthodox. And who is not Orthodox, in fact, his Russianness becomes doubtful. For many, this is already a common place since the time of Dostoevsky. But what does it mean to be Orthodox? This is not given with birth. No, Orthodoxy needs to learn, to be brought up in Orthodoxy. But as?
Of course, to go to church: whoever puts himself outside the church is inevitable outside the faith - to whom the Church is dim, God is not the father. This again became indisputable long ago, although not for everyone, so repeating and repeating the undoubted from time to time is useful. do not take. It is necessary to comprehend the doctrinal foundations of Orthodoxy, dogmatic truths. Finally, we must try to live according to the commandments, which is very difficult.
However, in following all this, we are in danger of transforming the necessary into external, formal, which does not take possession of the entire fullness of our being. You can become a scribe, a proud Pharisee - and that will be of little use. After all, the Pharisee was extremely pious, fulfilling even more required, and nevertheless, by the Son of God Himself, he was placed below the sinner-tax collector.
To accept the truths of Orthodoxy, it is necessary, among other things, to assimilate them through one's own life experience - then they will become not an external dogma, but a guideline on the path to salvation. Why did our first parents sin? Because they did not have the experience of being outside of God. Actually, their punishment was a great blessing, a teaching provided providentially for all mankind for the sake of gaining the most valuable experience, without which it is impossible to be firm in following the will of God. (Not everyone benefited from that experience, but that's another topic.)
However, one cannot comprehend the entire complexity of life by one's own experience. The sea of life is too immense and invisible for one person. But you can use for your own good the spiritual experience of your neighbors, both good and negative. Therefore, a great thing is done by those who collect such experience bit by bit and make it a common property. It is especially valuable if everything that has been collected receives Orthodox, that is, true, illumination and interpretation.
I confess that I always undertake with great apprehension the reading of works in which the author sets for himself precisely this goal. For often Orthodoxy is understood externally: it seems that it is worth remembering the name of God, piously moved - and that's enough. And what comes out is manners, lisp, false piety, corny exaltation, deliberate obscenity. Orthodoxy does not tolerate this; rolling eyes and picture poses are contraindicated for it. Those compositions where the word is unspeakable in simplicity, and all with a "pious" grimace, only harm the cause, tearing away from themselves the souls that do not tolerate falsehood.
Natalia Sukhinina's book will give anyone who reads it not indifferently, a lot that is useful, necessary to enrich their own experience, since it offers a strict, sober, courageous, sometimes tough and at the same time wise, genuinely kind outlook on life. Here is collected the most valuable experience, revealing not speculatively, but profitable examples - being with God and without God.
Su khinina teaches Orthodoxy. Not dogmatics, of course, and not church canons - for this there are special books. She teaches the Orthodox comprehension of life using simple everyday examples. And this is simply necessary for the reader, since everyday experience is unobtrusive, but more convincing at times than the most reasonable edifications.
Who, for example, does not know the truth of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov "acquire the spirit of peace, and around a thousand they will be saved"? You can speculate about it for a long time and intelligently. Sukhinina reveals this in a negative example, in an everyday situation, recognizable by everyone (the story "The Last Flowers from Our Garden"): a non-peaceful spirit, despondency - they poison everything around them, make their neighbors unhappy, filled with a spirit of malice. And there is no mention of God's name in vain, there is no reference to the Holy Fathers, but the patristic wisdom “despondency is the delight of the devil” (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk) is too obvious to doubt it.
There is no need to retell the meaning of all the stories - you just need to read them. The author teaches to peer at people, to see the inner essence of characters and actions behind the outside. And teaches love, which begins with sympathy for even the most unattractive person. Teaches to forgive in humility when it is so difficult to forgive.
Every believer knows: God helps him in all life's circumstances, in trials, troubles. One need only seek such help with faith. And if doubts prevail? But read about non-fictional stories that happened in the lives of the most ordinary people - is this not living testimony?
You read a book and involuntarily become stronger in the conviction: it is good and easy to live with faith (not in the ordinary sense, but in the spiritual), without God it is painful and hopeless. The Russian people have long known: there is no way without God. And all these stories are one more confirmation of this.
And one side reasoning involuntarily comes to mind, which, probably, was not included in the author's calculation: how criminally those who still fight against the faith, who speak of Orthodoxy with hatred, think and behave criminally. What do they doom a person, the entire nation, trying to drive into everyone's consciousness their depressingly vulgar stereotypes of human self-sufficiency, pluralism, consumer ideals? Those who are hysterical should start talking about the need to teach children the basics of Orthodoxy, doom the people to degeneration and death. The statistics are frightening: we are number one in youth suicide. And do not deceive yourself: in disbelief, in atheism, this will become more and more aggravated. What, then, are the warriors seeking with faith? Do they not know what they are doing? Someone in their own self-righteousness and stupid self-confidence really does not know, but someone ...
The providential will of God guides a person through life, protecting him from falls (and we often resist this - and still fall). However, one should not assume that this simple idea is primitively simple. It just often requires a genuine feat of faith, because Orthodox requirements for a person are sometimes rigidly paradoxical and unacceptable at the level of everyday consciousness. In this sense, the story “A sad flutist at a cheerful bakery” becomes a kind of test for testing our faith. Our whole being resists the choice that the participants in the story told humbly made, submitting to the will of the elder. But the spiritual wisdom of an old man is only a consequence not of his own arbitrariness, but of the spiritual comprehension of Providence. To resist Providence is always to doom yourself to an impending disaster. It's easy to say, but go try when it touches you. After all, we judge everything from our limited time space, and everything seems to us as if we know better than anyone else where our good is. Providence determines everything according to the laws of eternity, and from eternity, no matter how wise, it is always more visible. Not accepting this with our own limited reason, we are burned, being in a lack of faith. And if we accept, even in spite of our inner protest, we get what we have lost hope for (the story "The Dress Made Up").
It is not our task, we repeat again, to list all the good lessons that can be learned from reading the stories of Natalia Sukhinina. Whoever reads - he will see and understand everything. Finally, it is necessary to say to the wife about the undoubted artistic merits of the proposed book. This is very important: a bad form can make any good intention meaningless. Sukhinina, on the other hand, has a skillful form, concisely constructs a narrative, capaciously selects the most accurate and expressive details, clearly builds the composition of the story, correctly chooses the desired intonation.
The skill of verbal drawing can be judged at least by this excerpt (the story "An angry old woman with a blue, reticule"):
“She was small, nimble, with a small wrinkled face, deep-set eyes, which burned the world around them like coals. She quickly, with the gait of a hurrying, very businesslike person, entered the church gates, baptized herself importantly on the domes and crossed to the front door. At the door she made three more low bows and entered the vaults under the temple. And - work began with elbows. Elbows were sharp, she herself is fast, and therefore salted quickly through the crowd. Forward to Sole, center