What Makes Us Happy?

Iceland was rated the third happiest country in the world this year, according to the World Happiness Report. In case you’re wondering, the top five happiest countries were Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

What is it about that part of the world that people seem to be the happiest?

One of many probable considerations comes from Iceland psychologist, author, and thought-leader Hrund Gunnsteinsdoottir, attributes her country’s happiness standing to a deep-seated sense of resilience, an off-shoot of the Icelandic word for intuition - InnSaei (pronounced “in-sy-ay”).

She writes that InnSaei has three meanings - 1. the sea within; 2. to see within; and “to see from the inside out”. To possess InnSaei means you have a “strong compass that enables you to navigate the ocean of life and the world we live in”.

It’s given her the courage to follow her inner compass and encourages people to think differently from everyone else - to “venture into the void to see what we can’t usually see and to hear what we can’t usually hear”. She views it as a hidden superpower in a world in which we place many demands on ourselves and in which life can feel incredibly fast, intense, and stressful.

Gunnsteinsdoottir defines the meanings as 1. the borderless nature of our inner world; 2. knowing ourselves well, both our strengths and imperfections; and 3. being aligned with our inner compass.

These attributes enable us to not be boxed in, to put ourselves in others’ shoes, and to have clarity, focus, and resilience. They help us to set boundaries and to cope with life’s storms. They minimize self-doubts, stress, fear of losing, and self-blame. They facilitate healing and taking care of our bodies. They cause us to practice serendipity and to see everyone we encounter as a messenger who can impart something of value to us.

A well-developed sense of resilience and intuition enables us to experience the world with more compassion, awe, courage and love.                         

Developing these “muscles” equips us to feel with and not against others, to possess a sense of wonder and gratitude, to act from a place of conviction and strength, and to live with love as our guiding force. These good and healing gifts enable us to listen with greater intention and purposefulness and to form deeper human connections that bring healing and joy into our lives.          

Photo by Nattu Adnan on Unsplash