Seattle's Happiness About to Be Measured, Too

From Queen Ann View.

Okay, this is getting repetitive. Now Seattle is getting in on the happiness measures, according to this story from Queen Ann View. The effort comes from a group called Sustainable Seattle in what they are calling the Seattle Area Happiness Initiative.

In an approach inspired by (what else?) the Gross National Happiness indicator of Bhutan, Sustainable Seattle is asking the community to take their online survey, which measures happiness based on the "nine domains of happiness". I haven't tried the survey yet, but if you do, be advised that it takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete, and can't be saved for later once you start. You're in it for the long haul with this survey, but at the end you'll be rewarded with a readout of your scores in each category, so you'll easily see how you might improve your life.

Members of Seattle's government apparently support the effort. Seattle Councilman Mike O'Brien says, "You get what you measure. For too long we’ve measured the wrong things—Gross Domestic Product doesn’t tell us whether we have a good quality of life or a sustainable society. This survey, which includes nine domains of well-being, not just income, is a good way to start measuring the important things we care about, so we can actually achieve them."

Again, click on my Gross National Happiness tag to read other news stories about groups/countries measuring happiness. Expect to see a lot of repetition. At this point it might make more sense to list countries NOT measuring happiness because it's getting hard to keep up!