Researchers from Uni of Warwick and Dartmouth in the U.S interviewed close to 2 million people and came out with the following results:
- People are happy when they are young and again in their final years. It is the middle bit that is problematic
- Our sense of wellbeing follows a U shaped curve through our lives
- In the U.S, the time of least happiness happens at age 40 for women and 50 for men
- By the time one reaches 70, if one is physically fit, their happiness is similar to that of a 20 year-old.
The theories that explain these (Prof. Andrew Oswald) are:
- Youngsters have high aspirations and in the middle ages they have to learn to quell them
- People who are happier live longer. So, if the unhappy people have died younger, then those who remain are happier
- You learn to count your blessing when you are older and when we see bad things happen, are just happy to be alive
Reading this and seeing people all around, the research appears to be on target.
The ancient Indians however, had a great structure and formula for living well called "Purushartha" (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha).
This stated the purpose of living as attaining 'Moksha'. For people who lived a life as dictated by the sastras, there would be no emptiness or loneliness.
Sometimes I wonder : Have we veered away from this, lost touch with scriptures and trying to reinvent the wheel by reading western researches that merely scratch the surface?
For this some would protest "But the scriptures are in Sanskrit and we don't understand".
This is a lame explanation and an ignorant one too, for one has to merely look at the number of resources available in the internet and the also the number of teachers who talk our language (English or whatever) and are trying to remove our ignorance.
