But even if a happiness index arrives, will it deliver what France would hope to see?
We have a happiness set point, much like we have a set point for how much we weigh.
If there is such a thing as a happiness bubble, it is a much tougher, resilient bubble than the stock and real estate ones that have burst recently.
The notion of having a "happiness index" to track a country's power to smile, not just to spend, used to be the quirky preserve of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
We want a nudge toward happiness, a little magic to open the pressure valve of everyday life -- the sublime thrill of transcendence to be found in a Mendelssohn symphony or a Turner landscape, in a perfect kiss or perfect morning jog, in time spent with our families and friends.
He gives farms a "happiness audit" to check that pigs are raised on a natural diet with ample exercise.
Men have a slight happiness advantage, reporting higher levels of well-being than women.
The findings were clear: newlyweds enjoy a big happiness boost that lasts, on average, for just two years.
The French and even the dour British are also exploring ways to come up with a national happiness index.
Because giving your money to others instead of spending it on yourself provides a bigger happiness bang for your buck.
One way to accomplish this is to identify a Chief Happiness Officer.
Her disability never discouraged her from doing the work she was called to do and from seeing her true worth as approaches each day with a contagious happiness.
It might be better, though, to reconsider how much time you spend with your TV in the first place. (According to the data, TV watching is a clear happiness drain).
Far from being claustrophobic, it is a place where happiness has taken root and bloomed: a placid Parisian apartment, lined with bookshelves, and inhabited by Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and his wife, Anne (Emmanuelle Riva).
Though the final report hasn't been released yet, the project's global survey results and experiments suggest something that a lot of Facebook users already sense: social interaction is a driver for happiness, and the Web 2.0 is a valid way to experience it.
We buy a sofa instead of a ski trip, not taking into account that we will get used to the sofa very quickly and that it will stop being a source of happiness, while the vacation will likely stay in our minds for a long time.
As happiness research over the past half century or so has shown, belonging is a strong a predictor of happiness.
For now, Zappos, part of Amazon.com, is focused on making a big push into clothing says Hsieh, during a break from a tour to promote his book Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.
In the nineteen-eighties, a carton of Double Happiness cigarettes was enough to secure a job transfer or the ration coupon for a washing machine.
As a guest of Delivering Happiness, I stayed at the Ogden, a new downtown high-rise, which Hsieh now calls home.
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For a welfare statist, though, your happiness is not a morally legitimate goal.
"It was a moment of happiness, of anger, of many things together, " Ben Yehuda said.
No wonder, to cite the writer Tom Wolfe, America was experiencing a revolution in happiness.
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Like Matisse, Bonnard has been dismissively labelled a decorative artist, a painter of happiness.
Cutting down on commuting is going to give any hard worker a boost of happiness and calm.
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Last November Prime Minister David Cameron launched a separate "happiness index" to measure the well-being of UK citizens.
Once again, a lot of happiness to everyone and, above all, good health.
He basically -- his basic point is he is not happy with a certain trigger happiness in the world that exists.
Further, where is his desire to compel the worship of a higher being, also on his list as a source of happiness?
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