KATE EMERY: Time for our politicians to start campaigning on happiness

This column is not going to tell you to give up gluten and get a colonic.

This column is about happiness and the key to happiness is almost never a colonic irrigation, no matter what online influencers would have you believe.

Happiness is the thing everyone wants, too few of us have and that Australian politicians so rarely mention.

In America, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is baked into the country’s Declaration of Independence: recognition that we are all striving for the same goal.

In Australia, it’s astonishing to note just how little airtime the idea of “happiness” gets.

When was the last time you heard a politician talk about wanting to make the country happier? More productive, sure. More competitive, absolutely. But happier? It comes up slightly more often than colonic irrigation.

Politicians’ reluctance to prioritise happiness isn’t because they are shy about promising things they cannot deliver: promising things they can’t or won’t deliver is part of the job description.

No carbon tax! No GST! No child living in poverty!

Politicians don’t talk about happiness because it feels unquantifiable.

That’s not actually the case and this Thursday — International Day of Happiness — should remind us all of it.

Unlike the many dubious “day of. . .’ dreamed up by marketing firms and beloved of journalists on deadline and bereft of ideas — looking at you If Pets Had Thumbs Day — the International Day of Happiness has a solid idea at its core.

It’s the work of the United Nations and came via Bhutan, a country that famously measures its success in Gross National Happiness.

The idea is to look at how happiness can be quantified and to encourage governments to spend money on the things that we know improve happiness, from good public services and fair taxation to upholding social order and not frittering away like taxpayer dollars like they’re in a 90s rap music video.

The reality is that happiness is more quantifiable than we think.

Money

Money can absolutely buy happiness. If you can afford to buy what you want and live how you want it stands to reason you’re going to be happier than someone who has to hock the flat screen just to do a big shop at Coles.

Research shows that, in general, happiness rises with income but plateaus at a certain point: if you can afford to buy 10 houses and 10 Rolls Royces you’re probably not significantly happier than the person who can only afford to buy five.

It’s not the job of politicians to make us all wealthy. But it is the job of politicians to tax us fairly in a way that encourages small and big business to thrive (looking at you, payroll tax) and to support the most vulnerable of us when we need it (looking at you JobSeeker payments).

Health

It is possible to be sick and happy but it’s easier to be happy when you’re healthy.

Good health correlates with happiness and it works both ways: you’re more likely to be happy if you’re healthy but you’re also likely to be healthy if you’re happy, thanks to the very real health effects of conditions like stress.

Politicians can’t make us do the things we all know will make us healthier — eat better, sleep more, drink less — but they absolutely can give us a health system that means everyone can afford to go to the hospital or see a GP (trying to look at you, bulk billing, but you’re nowhere to be seen).

Social Life

We’re happier when we have people in our lives. Ideally these are people we care about and who care about us: partners, close friends, kids. Social connection can also mean neighbours or the barista at the local cafe who likes a chat.

Governments can help facilitate social connection by building walkable neighbourhoods, investing in public infrastructure that encourages social connectivity, like libraries, and recognising loneliness as a serious mental health concern (and funding efforts to address it accordingly).

Purpose

Boffins paid to study the science of happiness split the term into two categories: hedonic and eudaimonic.

The former comes from eating a piece of cake or seeing your footy team win. The latter is the state of wellbeing that comes from, among other things, having meaning in your life that won’t be destroyed when your team chokes.

Purpose goes hand in hand with eudaimonic happiness. When people feel engaged in society — they believe their vote counts and their contribution is valued — they have a greater sense of purpose (and happiness).

Genes

The bad news is that about half of our predisposition to happiness likely relates to our genetics and, short of time travel and a commitment to some Back to the Future-style interference with your parents’ meet-cute, there’s not much you can do to change that.

The goods news is that, of the remaining 50 per cent of happiness that’s under your control, experts suggest just 10 per cent is shaped by our life circumstances, while a whopping 40 per cent is down to our personal choices.

That should include voting for the politicians whose policies can make us happier.