All good fairy tales have a king. This tale is no different. However, what I am about to tell you is not a children’s story, not a fable. It’s real life. The tale of a real king. The history of a boy who was given a crown by his country. In return, the King gave the world a new way of measuring prosperity.
In 1972, Jigme Singye Wangchuck turned 17 years old. He also became King of a small country just south of Tibet – Bhutan. King Wangchuck was unlike Bhutan’s past kings. He viewed the world differently. He brought things to Bhutan that his people had never seen. He cracked the door open to allow parts of the modern world to make their way to Bhutan for the first time. However, when a door is unlocked it not only allows things in the room, it lets them out.
This King did not believe that his people could achieve prosperity by merely adopting new economic policies. He believed something else had to be measured to determine the well being of the people. One day while discussing this idea, in what is believed to be an off the cuff remark, he dubbed the term “Gross National Happiness.” A way to measure the quality of life and social well being of the country.
In that one sentence, the King had set forth a concept that would make happiness part of the public policy. This sentence was the start of Bhutan’s “Gross National Happiness Index.” Since the Great Depression, countries have measured Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to determine the health of a country. However, GDP is merely a measure of how much money is exchanging hands in a country. Bhutan, on the other hand, tries to measure its peoples’ happiness. They have chosen to define success differently than other countries.
I have no idea if Bhutan has found the secret for happiness. Nor do I know how Bhutan will look in 20 years. However, I do know that the more time we spend thinking about happiness, the more time we seek to define it, the more answers we get. So, how do you measure your happiness? Since you became a lawyer, how much time have you spent thinking about how happy you are?
P.S. In 2008, Bhutan became the world’s newest democracy. The push for democracy did not come from the people. On the contrary, it came from the government.
Stop + Drink the Coffee + Reinvent