Happiness Index

I was reading CNN today and came across an article outlining the new book written by Eric Weirner - "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World". I was struck by this article as we have been going through a sermon at church on greed over the last month and I was interested in what Eric had found on his journey. I posted the article below from CNN. The most interesting piece of the whole article is that in the second to last sentence Eric states, "I would describe myself as a recovering grump," Weiner said. "At this point, I think I am marginally happier than before I started the project."

God has to be our fulfillment here on earth because nothing and I say nothing will fill that void except knowing and having a relationship with God. While Eric did not come to that conclusion in his book I also noticed he is still not completly satisfied with this life.


'Grump' travels the planet to find bliss
Story HighlightsJournalist spent a year looking for the world's happiest countries

Eric Weiner: Bhutan is probably the closest thing on Earth to Shangri-La

He marvels at the creativity and "coziness" of Iceland

Self-described "grump:" chocolate contributes to happiness in Switzerland

By A. Pawlowski
CNN
(CNN) -- It may take a lot of frequent-flier miles, a penchant for cold places, a tolerance of taxes and regular doses of chocolate, but happiness could be within reach. However, it's not where most people might expect.

Just ask Eric Weiner, who made it his mission to find the most content places around the globe, uncovering lots of surprises along the way.

Hungering for a tropical paradise? A warm climate doesn't necessarily make a happy nation, Weiner said.

Thinking of moving to a wealthy state? Money can degrade happiness, he found.

Weiner, who wrote the book, "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World," began his quest for very personal reasons.

"I'm an unhappy person, so it's kind of what prompts a hungry person to search for food," he said.

Weiner spent 10 years as a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, a job that took him to some of the least happy places in the world.

It was enough to send him on a yearlong journey to look for just the opposite.

Weiner mapped out his quest with a combination of scientific and personal methods, choosing some countries because they traditionally score high on happiness surveys and selecting others to see how factors like money play a role.

A world map of happiness, based on 100 different studies and produced by Britain's University of Leicester in 2006, listed Denmark as the world's happiest nation.

But for Weiner, the place where he felt the most bliss was a toss-up between Bhutan and Iceland, countries that ranked eighth and fourth, respectively, on the happiness map. Weiner's list of favorites also included Thailand, India and Switzerland. See photos of his favorites and listen to him explain why they're happy »

His top two picks, though very different countries, have unconventional paths to happiness, he said.

"Bhutan is probably the closest thing on Earth to Shangri-La, that fictional paradise," Weiner explained.

He pointed out that while other countries focus on their gross domestic product, the Himalayan kingdom proudly touts its policy of "gross national happiness."

"The Bhutanese very much believe that happiness should be part and parcel of every government decision," Weiner said.

Cold place, warm relationships

Thousands of miles away, Weiner found happiness in a very different environment, marveling at the creativity and "coziness" of Iceland.

"Everyone in Iceland is a poet," Weiner recalled.

He visited the country during winter and said he found a certain beauty in the cold and the darkness. Such a chilly climate usually encourages warm relationships, Weiner found.

"The cold inspires people to cooperate, traditionally. If you go back a few hundred years, people in cold climates have to cooperate or they die together. It's that simple," he said.

Weiner found a different flavor of happiness in Switzerland, where he discovered people are content partly because everything runs like clockwork. Simple pleasures like trains arriving on time contributed to national happiness, he said.

But there may be a much sweeter reason why Switzerland is a happy place.

"The Swiss eat a lot of chocolate, and let's not forget that," Weiner said.

He was also impressed with how the Swiss view money.

"Their attitude is that if you've got it, hide it. While our attitude is if you've got it, flaunt it," Weiner said, comparing the Swiss to Americans.

Weiner called the United States, which came in at No. 23 on the University of Leicester's world map of happiness, a nation that "is not as happy as it is wealthy."

The impact of wealth and taxes

The relationship between money and happiness took Weiner to the Middle East and Qatar, a country with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, thanks to oil and natural gas revenues, according to the CIA World Factbook.

"I went there specifically to examine what happens when the entire country wins the lottery," Weiner said. He found the wealth made the residents comfortable, but also degraded their level of contentment.

"Most of our happiness is derived from our relationships with other people," Weiner said. "The money in Qatar has allowed them to wall themselves off, literally and figuratively, from other people. ... That's not a recipe for happiness."

There are no income taxes in Qatar, but that's not a cause for contentment, Weiner found. Some taxation is necessary for happiness because it's a way of being invested in a place, he argued.

"You're giving money to someone else, a government, and you're trusting them to do something good with it," Weiner said. "In a country where there's no taxation at all, people don't have vested interests in how well the government performs. You can't say, 'Hey, those are my tax dollars at work.'"

Quest creates buzz

Weiner's book has struck a chord, recently rising to the top 10 of The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list. An expert who studies happiness said part of the book's appeal may lie in how Weiner mapped out his journey.

"He arranges an interesting itinerary because he uses science as his compass," said Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard University and the author of "Stumbling on Happiness."

Gilbert said it's only recently that a combination of biology, sociology and psychology has been able to answer the "where's and why's" of happiness, a subject that has always fascinated people.

"The quest for happiness is the central preoccupation of human beings and has been for as long as there have been human beings," Gilbert said.

He echoed Weiner's findings that bliss is other people.

"Everyone has been telling us for the longest time that happiness is about social relationships, well, bingo, they're right," Gilbert said.

Meanwhile, after a year of exploring some of the world's happiest places, Weiner -- the self-described "grump" -- said his mind-set has improved somewhat.

"I would describe myself as a recovering grump," Weiner said. "At this point, I think I am marginally happier than before I started the project."

Imago Appreciation Night

This is coming out a bit late but a few weeks ago Melissa, Tamara, and myself all went to the Imago Dei Apprciation night downtown for the community group leaders and volunteer staff at our church. We got dressed up to the nines and had a night on the town that started with a beautiful dinner provided by Imago. We danced a little, ate a lot, and enjoyed the program that Imago put on. God has truly blessed our church and you can see His works in so many lives that we fellowship with. The transformation that happens when you let God take control is amazing and it is a humbling experience to see that work itself out in our lives.

After the appreciation dinner we went out for a drink at El Gaucho's in the Benson Hotel. We figured we were dressed to the nines and we needed to go to a classy spot. I will say their drinks are a bit overpriced, but live spanish guitar is tuff to beat on a saturday night =)

Love

M & N's

Crazy Interest Rates

The Fed has been active in brining interest rates down over the last month. This week Fed Chariman Bernake cut rates another 50 basis points.... Here is what a leading economist had to say about these cuts....

The Big Ease – But For How Long?
The Fed did not disappoint the market on Wednesday as it delivered another 50 basis point cut to its target rate. Since topping out at 5.25% in June 2006 and remaining there until September 2007, the Fed has now cut its target rate 225 basis points to the current 3%. The magnitude of the 125 basis point cut in an eight day period seems fairly unprecedented in Fed history showing that they are clearly trying to (re)act to prevent a U.S. recession.

The economic data from the week definitely shows some cause for concern – which has left the market still hoping for more in the way of cuts from the Fed. First, GDP hit a low of 0.6% in the Final Quarter of 2007 and December New Home Sales fell to their lowest point in 12 years. Non-Farm Payrolls fell 17k – their first decline since 2003 and grew by about 1 million over the past year versus 2 million the year before. But despite falling Payrolls, unemployment did not rise but fell from 5% to 4.9%. Personal Income rose 0.5% - more than the expected 0.4%. Consumer Spending was down -- off from the previous month -- but did manage to beat expectations.

With both the general economy and job growth slowing, the Fed is fiercely delivering interest rate relief to borrowers. So far, the 10-Year Treasury rate has reacted by falling along with the Fed rate cuts as investors seek safety. Some market pundits expect the yield curve to continue to steepen - meaning the difference between short and long term rates will rise. This expectation for more steepening is reflected in the Fed Funds Futures market expectations for further Fed cuts and the consensus of economists’ estimates that the 10-Year Treasury rate at year end will be above 4% (Remember, we are less than 50 basis points above the 10-Year Treasury rate 40-year low of 3.11%.) Also, debate is already taking place on just how long it will be before the Fed needs to reverse course and start raising rates – with the market now setting odds for the first rise later this year.

San Diego - We're Here

Mel and I arrived in beautiful San Diego two days ago for her conference with the Murdock Trust. Yesterday was 70 and sunny today was 65 and sunny not a cloud in the sky! It has been fabulous and we are staying at the Hilton by Sea World. We spend most of yesterday walking around Coronado and hanging out with my brother Jake. Today Melissa had to present her research and I have been chillin in the sun working on some school work and relaxing.

Wish you all were here =)

Love,

Nathan and Mel

Blue Ocean Strategy

It is not everyday that I feel compelled to make a book recommendation, especially from my course work at school. The current book I am reading was just so good I had to pass this one along. For all of you business lovers or entrepreneurs at heart - you will absolutely eat this book up. I read it in two days from cover to cover because the author is just so insightful on the topic of marketing and creating new market space within this realm.

The premise of the book is that the bulk of industries in the world fight head to head for market share and do nothing to differentiate themselves from their competitors. The author calls this a red ocean. Already developed, already full of companies competing, products are similar, and services vary little. The book talks about how to create your own market space and make the competition irrelevant. Stop looking at the competition and start listening to your end users, substitute users, related users, similar industries, and outside of the box tactics. The blue ocean is when you create the market and the competition becomes irrelevant. I don't want to ruin the book for you, but I will say that it is one that we all should read. Innovate, recreate, and read this book for some inspiration on how to get outside the box in business today.

http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/

Enjoy,

Nathan

Christmas Photos

I know that Christmas is over and it has been a couple of weeks now since we have been home, but I am just getting to posting these pictures up on our blog. Here they are in colorful form and when I get more time I will go in and give captions as there are lot's of pictures here.

Hope you enjoy them. With Love,

Nathan and Mel

SEE PICTURES (click here)

Christmas Vacation

Melissa and I were out of town for 11 days on a Christmas extravaganza that included a trip to Lake of the Woods, Medford, and a hotel on Bear Creek. We left Portland on Friday night the 21rst and set sail to my good high school friend KC Walsh's cabin. Kc's family has owned a cabin up at Lake of the Woods for over 20 years now and it is always special to break away and visit. Lake of the Woods is a small lake about an hour from Medford and 45 minutes from Klamath Falls. It sits at 4,000 elevation so this time of year it is always covered in snow and this year was no exception.

On our way to Lake of the Woods from Portland we stopped at GI Joes to pick up some chains. I dropped Mel off to get some groceries and I went across the street to pick up the chains. When all was said and done we hopped on HWY 140 and were off. Needless to say I had spaced getting GAS!!! About 20 miles into the drive I looked at the gas gauge and noticed it was below the empty line in our truck. Here we are in the middle of nowhere 4 feet of snow on the ground and we're almost out of gas. SWEET! Mel and I said a little prayer and Tommy the Toyota pushed right along. By God's grace we coasted into the cabin on fumes and KC reminded me there was a gas station about 10 miles from the lake. This was the beginning of our adventure.

We stayed at the Lake for two days and then headed back to Medford to meet up with the Sackett Family. The crew included Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Glen, Tre Dog (my cousin who is an amazing chef), Grandma June, Dad, Mom, and their two mutts Murphy and Chin Li. It was a full house for Christmas Eve and we really enjoyed catching up with everyone. Even though Glen and Dorothy live in Vancouver we don't see them much and it was nice to chat with the Sackett's. Melissa worked on her knitting and I was able to read my book and hang with my cousin Tre. It was a relaxing couple of days and the food was excellent as always. The Sackett's never miss a meal and the food is always gourmet as Glen and Tre own a restaurant in Camas - (Prune Hill Bakery).

Christmas day came, and my brother Jake and his wife Jana flew up from San Diego. The influx of people caused us to grab a hotel that was very nice about 10 miles away from the family farm. The hotel was just built and I think we were the first ones to sleep in the beds and take a shower. The accommodations were very nice - pool, jacuzzi, work out facility, flat screen TVs, and very comfy beds.

Christmas came and went very fast and next thing we knew our Cousin's Tod and Tracy were rolling up the driveway with their family Josh and Nick. It just so happened that Josh and Nick receive dirt bikes for Christmas and wanted uncle Jake and Nate to show them how to ride these bikes. (poor Nate he really hates having to ride dirt bikes :) j/k) The parents have 5 acres in Griffin Creek and lots of space to run around for the cousins. Most nights they would ride until dark and you would have to pull them off of the bikes just to get them to stop and come in to eat. (a/k.a we would have to pull Nate off the bikes - :) )

Melissa here - a highlight for me was spending time with the Sackett ( and Ulery ) women - they are truly an amazing bunch. They taught me a thing or two about cooking, primping ( we got our nails done), playing poker, and the finer art of negotiating with the Sackett men. I especially loved spending time with Kathy, Nathan's mom, wow - I got lucky with a mother-in-law from heaven.

All in all our time spent in Southern Oregon was a great balance between activities, eating, and relaxing. We really enjoyed our visit and time we were able to spend with friends and family and it was hard to say good bye when we left on the 31st. I will attach some of my favorite pictures in another post as there are so many that were wonderful.

Melissa Has a New Phone

Hey Everybody -

Melissa has a new phone - but lost the numbers with the old one. Please call her or email her your phone number so she can update those in her phone!

Cheers,

Nathan and Melissa