The Happiness Test: How Happy Are You?

Marci Shimoff, in Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out, presents a happiness test. Let's take it!

I have copied it below, or you can take it online at the Ladies' Home Journal. (Don't worry, men, this is for you too!)

Rate each statement on a scale of 1 to 5:

1 = Not at all true

2 = Slightly True

3 = Moderately True

4 = Mostly True

5 = Absolutely True

1. I often feel happy and satisfied for no particular reason.
   1 2 3 4 5
   

2. I live in the moment.
   1 2 3 4 5

3. I feel alive, vital and energetic.
   1 2 3 4 5
   

4. I experience a deep sense of inner peace and well-being.
   1 2 3 4 5

5. Life is a great adventure for me.
   1 2 3 4 5

6. I don't let bad situations keep me down.
   1 2 3 4 5

7. I am enthusiastic about the things I do.
   1 2 3 4 5

8. Most days I have an experience of laughter or joy
   1 2 3 4 5

9. I trust this is a friendly universe.
   1 2 3 4 5

10. I look for the gift or the lesson in everything that happens.
    1 2 3 4 5
    

11. I am able to let go and forgive
    1 2 3 4 5

12. I feel love for myself.
    1 2 3 4 5
    

13. I look for the good in every person.
    1 2 3 4 5

14. I change the things I can and accept the things I can't change.
    1 2 3 4 5

15. I surround myself with people who support me
    1 2 3 4 5

16. I don't blame others or complain.
    1 2 3 4 5

17. My negative thoughts don't overshadow me.
    1 2 3 4 5

18. I feel a general sense of gratitude.
    1 2 3 4 5

19. I feel connected to something bigger than myself.
    1 2 3 4 5

20. I feel inspired by a sense of purpose in my life.
    1 2 3 4 5

Scoring section:

• If your score is 80 - 100: To a great degree, you are Happy (for no reason).
• If your score is 60 - 79: You have a good measure of being Happy (for no reason).
• If your score is 40 - 59: You have glimpses of being Happy (for no reason).
• If your score is under 40: You have little experience of being Happy (for no reason).

OK, how did you do? Are you happy (for no reason)? Marci's questionnaire is unique because

it asks you to rate intangibles--feelings, values, and attitudes.

Shimoff stands in a tradition that I admire. She stands in the tradition of those who teach that we are responsible for our own happiness. We can not blame others or our circumstances for our unhappiness. Nor can we attribute our happiness to others or circumstances. Happiness is something we decide to be.

Victor Frankl stands in this tradition. In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl relates experiences in

a Nazi concentration camp. A more horrendous and despairing place would be hard to find. The Nazi party sent you there to work to death. Frankl faced the concentration camp experience believing that the meaning we find in life is what sees us through. He could tell when a person would die. He knew the signs of when a man gave up hope, lost a sense of meaning and purpose in his life.

Erick Fromm also stands in this tradition. In The Art of Loving, Fromm chastises our hedonistic culture that encourages us to live immaturely, seeking only our selfish gratification in relationships with others, especially our spouse. He wrote that loving is an art, the art of learning to love others no matter who they are. He makes the bold assertion that a mature person can love anyone, and could successfully marry anyone. The mature person's happiness comes from within, not from having just the right spouse.

Mahatma Gandhi comes from this tradition. Gandhi had everything going for him. A lawyer, intelligent and from a wealthy India family of the Brahman caste, he confronted the oppressive racist practice of Apartheid in South Africa and the suffocating British colonial rule in India. The Afrikaans in South Africa and the British in India treated Gandhi as a second class citizen, at best. He would have none of that. He refused to let the Afrikaans and British view of him be his view of himself. Choosing the spiritual path of inner enlightenment, Gandhi inspired his people and the world to become fully human and fully divine in oppressive situations. He refused to let his circumstances determine his happiness. His happiness came from within.

The list of people who know the secret that happiness comes from within could go on and on. The message they all teach us with their lives is that happiness comes from within and we have complete control over the inner dynamics that bring happiness.