THE FORMULA TO HAPPINESS: O + (NXS)+ Cpm/ T+He – DECODED
A British psychologist Cliff Arnail has claimed to have created a happiness formula. Arnail has attached numbers to the factors and invented a happiness formula- O + (NXS) + Cpm/T+He. Decoding his formula Prof Arnail explained when a value for being outdoors (O) is added to nature (N) multiplied by social interaction (S), added to childhood summer memories (Cpm) divided by temperature (T) and added to holiday excitement (He) then the third Friday in June comes out as the optimal day for peak happiness. He further elaborated: “The third Friday in June came out with the highest rating due to peaking happiness factors, such as warm summer evenings outdoors (although May and June are the most ‘frying’ months in India), seeing friends more frequently, and excitement about holidays”. Can there be a mathematical or chemical formula for happiness? Happiness, it is said is a state of mind. Can a single formula fit into the minds of the whole mankind? As we know if any one factor in the formula is missing it doesn’t work. Happiness is so elusive, for ages human beings are hankering for it; still our lives remain happiness- deficit.
Happiness undoubtedly is the universal goal for all human beings. But people seek happiness in their own ways. Some prefer material goals, such as wanting a better house, a better car or items of luxury. Some aim for security for themselves and their family. Some of us aspire to be more wealthy and powerful; others might seek fame and influence in the society. They think they will be happy if they get what they aspire for not knowing that they are postponing the experience of happiness in quest of something which cannot remain forever. This is a roundabout approach to seek happiness. In this process the primary goal is to have wealth, power, fame; happiness becomes a by- product, a secondary goal because we think we can achieve happiness only on achieving our primary goal. In other words happiness is attached to a reason. What happens when the reason is gone; happiness also vanishes in the thin air. There cannot be a universal formula for happiness but one thing is certain that true happiness can only be experienced when it is for no reason.
