ColumnJonathan Harris measures happiness one balloon at a time.

Jonathan Harris’ fingerprints are all over the web. And he leaves interesting marks. When I received an email from him last month about his recently completed project on happiness, I wasn’t disappointed.

Harris may be a techie and a geek of the first order, but there is something more to his code, something original in his thinking, and something poetic in his heart. With every project he tells a story, and proves himself an artist for the online seeker.

Harris speaks about this latest multimedia creation:

In Bhutan, happiness is no laughing matter — academics study it, spreadsheets track it, billboards tout it, conferences debate it, and every year, flocks of foreign intellectuals travel to Thimphu to share their ideas about what exactly makes a person happy.

Instead of “Gross National Product,” Bhutan uses “Gross National Happiness” to measure its socio-economic prosperity, essentially organizing its national agenda around the basic tenets of Buddhism. Bhutan’s fourth king, Jigme Singe Wangchuck, invented the idea in 1972, to give his tiny country some international clout and guard against potential future invasion by its two mighty neighbors (India and China).

Given the seriousness with which this topic is treated, I thought it would be fun to do something a little bit silly, so in late 2007, I traveled to Bhutan and spent two weeks handing out balloons.

I asked people five questions pertaining to happiness: what makes them happy, what is their happiest memory, what is their favorite joke, what is their level of happiness between 1 and 10, and, if they could make one wish, what would it be. Based on each person’s stated level of happiness, I inflated that number of balloons, so very happy people would be given 10 balloons and very sad people would be given only one (but hey, it’s still a balloon). Then I wrote each person’s wish onto a balloon of their favorite color. I repeated this process for 117 different people, from all different ages and backgrounds.

On the final night, all 117 wish balloons were re-inflated and strung up at Dochula, a sacred mountain pass at 10,000 feet, leaving them to bob up and down in the wind, mingling with thousands of strands of prayer flags.

Harris gifts us with his storytelling prowess with Balloons for Bhutan. We hear Bhutanese voices, feel the measure of peace in the photos, and imagine those balloons, hundreds of them, reflecting in colorful symbols as a country’s allegiance to something as simple as happiness.

Images:  Jonathan Harris

Eco, trends, art, creativity and how they tumble through social media to shape culture fascinate EcoSalon columnist Dominique Pacheco. Her trends blog, mixingreality, speaks to these topics daily, and here at EcoSalon, she takes a weekly look at the intersection of eco and art. We call it heARTbeat.

QuoteDaily quotes at EcoSalon.

“If you look at what you have in life,
You’ll always have more.
If you look at what you don’t have in life,
You’ll never have enough.”

- Oprah Winfrey

Image: Dawn Ashley

After days spent racking my brain to choose nine things you don’t need to be happy, now I can’t keep more from surfacing. If this list keeps growing, it might mean that happiness is attainable without anything at all. What a concept!

But just for fun, let’s continue counting. Here are 9 more things you don’t need to be happy. Really.

1. Optimism. There’s nothing more annoying than all the self-help mumbo jumbo that preaches “think positive” – and implies (explicitly or not) that by doing so, you will get what you want. This theory leaves us in the lurch and in fear of having even a speck of a negative thought. The universe is not directing the traffic of our lives according to our thoughts. We earth folk, although blessed with free will, are not more powerful than the randomness of life.

This is good news. If you happen to be a cynic or wake up on the wrong side of the bed once in a while, don’t fret. Having a positive outlook 24/7 is not required for happiness.

2. Caffeine. I’m actually sitting in Starbucks as I type this and it’s occurred to me that I could be a lot happier if there were fewer coffee shops serving rocket fuel to every human on the planet. Fewer Starbucks means fewer caffeinated people – and no landfill droves of millions of paper cups.

I was perfectly content for the six months I gave up coffee. Life was fine. But I can tell you this. The moment I took my first sip of a non-fat triple shot cappuccino after those six months, I was indeed rocketed into another dimension. I don’t need caffeine, but I like it. So there. Just don’t make me go to Coffee Bean. That’s where I draw the line.

3. God. Religion and anything related is a topic fraught with tension, but we shouldn’t ignore the obvious, which is that many people all over the world live life happily and successfully without worshiping or praying to any being. Organized religion is not the only road to salvation. Why is it that only the non-religious realize this?

4. Intelligence. I adamantly agree that women can be both smart and pretty, but if for some reason I had to choose, I think today I’d prefer pretty. Why? Because it gets tiring being smart. And I’m exhausted!

Most days I can’t watch the news, much less have an intelligent conversation about current events. Between the stock market, natural disasters, unstable psychopaths wreaking havoc on innocent people, world hunger, violence against women – I’m upset too often. What’s so horrible about a slight dose of ignorance? Call me stupid, but sometimes I’d prefer to be stupid.

5. Crystal Ball. The less I know about the future, the better. It used to be that I was riddled with fear if I couldn’t see how it all turned out; whether you’d stay or go, love me or leave me. So I would leave you first or better yet, never stay in the first place, because not knowing how and when it would end was too scary. Today I’m a different creature. I find comfort in the unknown and practice letting the future alone and being present for love and my life today.

6. Chanel handbag. Oops, how did this one get in here? I mean, really. No one needs a Chanel bag, period. And to be completely candid, I once purchased such a bag. It was at a time when my work was very lucrative and I thought (or hoped) a sophisticated, exquisitely made black bag would satisfy a deep yearning within me.

This morning I caught a glance of that particular Chanel hanging in my closet. Did it make me happy? When I first bought it, yes for about five minutes, but now…not so much. Actually, it makes me a little bit annoyed.

7. Resolved “issues“. I have no qualms telling you I go to therapy once a week. I’m one of those humans that grew up crooked and needed a little correcting. So be it. In fact, I think more people should be in therapy, especially married people.

Yes, a weekly appointment on my calendar means there is unfinished business, more “stuff” yet to come up and discuss. I continue to dig, deeper and wider and with more gusto. Why? Because the more I uncover, confront, grieve, accept, release, the better and happier I become. Everything need not be packaged up perfectly in a box with a bow, stored away in the basement in order for one to feel relief and some semblance of happiness.

8. Approval. We can’t control what other people think of us. People who don’t know you well will have perceptions and come to their own conclusions. The important thing is not to change yourself in order to get someone to like you. The key is not to care if they like you or not.

Of course, it would be ideal if everyone everywhere liked you, but if you love yourself and just one other person thinks you’re awesome, then you are. Quit trying to gain the adoration of people who don’t matter, and focus on the ones that do.

9. A reason. Did you predict we would end up here? If so, you win. It took me 17 reasons to realize 1) one might be happy and not care why or 2) one isn’t happy (or is) but doesn’t particularly appreciate someone feeding them reasons how or why or when one could or should be. Therefore, my last reason is a reason. It is possible to be happy for no reason at all.

So there, I said it. Now go and be happy, just because.

Image: con Costanza

1. Diversify your feedback-collection methods.
Nothing like asking a fifteen year old and a seventy-five year old what they think about you, your business plan, or your last relationship decision.

2. Hit up the experts.
Take your CEO to lunch for a preemptive performance review and some tips on how to gracefully scramble the ladder. Ask a gifted writer what they really think of your pitch letter. Hire a stylist to purge your swollen closet. It may sting, it may be a major relief, but either way, expert opinions will propel you to the top of your game.

3. Work with people who are savvier, speedier and more accomplished than you.
Last year, I advised a mega-stellar online magazine that has the #1 community forum on the ‘net – a super savvy duo who are #1 in their industry and have one of the finest business plans I’ve seen, and a kick-ass marketing forum of some of the best and brightest marketers, motivators, and communicators on earth. With each client, I had to leap further to meet my intuition, dig deeper into the industry, and listen more actively. They made me sweat, spin and soar. I learned some new dance moves.

4. Stand naked in front of a full-length mirror.
Don’t leave until you can say three deeply loving things about your physique, the miracle of your health, and your full-bloom humanity.

5. Dust off the chopping block.
Fire your most irritating client, team member, or energy-abusing friend. You’ll wished you’d done it a long time ago.

6. Kill the chatter.
Turn off the TV. Commute without talk radio. Remove the iPod earbuds. The silence may shatter you. With our addiction to noise and distraction held at bay, our painful beauty and genius has room to surface.

7. Underachieve.
Attention, Type-As and workaholics. You are hereby invited to slack off. For one week, cryogenically freeze your to-do list. (I know, your palms are sweating at the very thought.) Set aside your novel, your knitting project, your non-critical responsibilities. Be late just because you wanted an extra five minutes in the hot shower.

8. As the Dalai Lama says, “Love until it hurts.”
Personally, this would mean volunteering at an old age home. I can hardly bear the wastage and scarcity of dignity that characterize most nursing homes. It slays me. I always leave a total wreck, with renewed appreciation for…everything.

9. Say no.
Only offer the simple explanation that “it just doesn’t feel right.”

10. Say yes.
Just for the hell of it. Whimsy rarely leads to social exile, destruction or doom. Be expansive – and see what unfurls.

Editor’s Note: Danielle LaPorte is the creator of WhiteHotTruth.com, which has been called “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality.” She is the author of The Fire Starter Sessions: A Digital Experience for Entrepreneurs, an inspirational speaker, former think tank exec, and news show commentator. You can read all of Danielle’s EcoSalon guest articles here, and find her on Twitter @daniellelaporte.

Image: mahalie

Being a woman in the 21st century is not a piece of cake. It wasn’t easy in 1950 or at any other time in history, either. But in 2011, in today’s universe that keeps getting bigger and faster and richer, it takes serious cojones to be a girl.

Today more than ever, women are bombarded with expectations – be beautiful, bear a baby, become a millionaire, be educated, be a good wife and please do it all while being good to the planet. So, anything else?

Never mind, don’t answer that.

Yes, there are obstacles, but I celebrate the women who break the mold and laugh at conformity. They are brave, outspoken and rather revolutionary. What is it that we girls tolerate least of all? Being told what we need to be happy.

So, I’m here to smash a few of these assumptions. I’ll do so without bearing a grudge or turning against men because I love being a woman. And in my opinion (humble as it may be), getting angry never got us anywhere other than backlash and behind where we started.

Here’s our list of things women don’t need in order to be happy:

1. A child. It’s true, our eggs get older and less viable as we age. There comes a point when we just can not have a baby, whether we have a hankerin’ for it or not. There’s no denying biology or the clock. But a childless woman is not necessarily an unhappy or devastated one. In fact it’s possible to feel quite free and fancy, sexy and spontaneous. And I can personally attest to the fact that there is absolutely no greater pleasure in my life than being an aunt to Rose and Jack. My heart explodes with love for them, but you know the catch…um, returnable.

2. A wedding. If I learned anything by watching friends and colleagues get matched, married and divorced over the past 20 years, it’s this – weddings are a great party, but mostly they just cost a mountain of money, a monstrous amount of stress and aren’t always worth their weight in white cake. Nothing costs as much, has the potential to rip families apart rather than bring them together, and is over faster than wedding night foreplay. Just elope – it’s easy, cheap and just think of all the extra time you’ll have for foreplay.

3. A diamond ring. By no means does a diamond a girl make. And anyway, a diamond is far from the best choice when it comes to sustainable stones. There are plenty of other far superior options if that’s what you need to signify your relationship status. But why wait for someone else to shower you with the shiny? I revel in my single-hood and independence and joy in shopping for a precious piece of jewelry for myself. You should, too. Especially if he can’t (or won’t) buy it for you.

4. A perfect body. Well, actually…this one would be nice. Admit it. But “perfect” is such an ugly word. We’d much rather be happy than perfect, right? Right? Actually, I don’t know many women who are completely satisfied with their physique. There’s usually a little here or there that we’d prefer to improve, but skinny is not a requirement for happy. My friends come in all shapes and sizes, and their happiness depends on deeper issues. Thinking that once we get to this place of perfect, we will have joy? We all know the answer to that one.

5. A thousand friends and followers. As in Facebook and Twitter, of course. In the beginning (when was that anyway?), I spent way too much time worrying about my worthiness in the world in relation to my number of social media connections. Come to realize, I may not be a maven but I’m worth my weight in effort and outspokenness. I do not need to meet a certain number to feel like I’ve made it. Who can be effective with that many followers, anyway? (Follow me though, really, if you aren’t already. Follow me! @kimderby77)

6. A man. Who needs one when there are plenty of gorgeous women to hang out with? Seriously, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I dated a woman for two years, and it’s fun and different (and entirely personal of course). But just sayin’. Never say never, because I did and I’m still eating my words.

7. A pair of perky breasts. Again, this would be nice and definitely more probable if we abide by number 1 above, but not necessary or impossible if not. A gorgeous, lacy and luxuriously padded bra will do the trick.

8. A soul-mate. Don’t believe in them. Never have and never will. One person who we are destined to be with forever? Silliness. Life is a random flow of crossing paths and we will probably connect with more than a few people on a deep, spiritual, other-worldly level. And if things don’t work out after truly trying, well, move on. Whoever said we should stay together for the kids, through pain and suffering, never set foot in my house growing up.

9. A partner with a low sex drive. Excuse me while I fall off my chair laughing. I hear all kinds of stories, especially from women with babies who lose interest and couldn’t be bothered. I’m terribly sorry. Seriously. But the average woman without hangups whose hormones are level and loaded should be totally driven in this department. End of story.

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Image: anastasiyamaleeva

Here’s a mighty powerful question: What’s it going to take?

We usually mutter that question in dire circumstances. Worst case scenarios. Rock-bottom situations. What’s it going to take for you to wake up? What’s it going to take for me to stop? What’s it going to take for them to realize?

But life is always an urgent circumstance, when you think about it. Birth – miraculous. Survival – miraculous. Death – inevitable. Suffering – optional. Life – urgent.

I wonder what my days would be like if I approached my happiness with the same sense of urgency that I dedicate to deadlines and to-do’s.

Like, I’ve GOT to meet my dancing quota! Wild horses couldn’t keep me from lunch with my girlfriends! Come hell or high water, I WILL get a facial and lay in the sun! Most important deadlines: to meander, to laugh until I snortle by noon every day, to make pizza with my son.

So, in the spirit of urgent vitality – and not knowing if today will be my last – I’m asking myself, lovingly but firmly: LaPorte, what’s it going to take for you to be incredibly joyful? What’s it going to take for you to make an evolutionary leap as an artist, lover, mother, friend, human? What’s it going to take to get you to walk to the lake that’s four minutes from your house? What’s it going to take to get you on the dance floor? You want to eat life whole? To know God? To radiate pure love? Urgently, now: what’s it going to take?

I think it’s going to take everything I’ve got. Deep breath. Pause. Softening. And, smiling. Because I’ve got what it takes. As do you.

True desires rise from rich capacity.

Editor’s Note: Danielle LaPorte is the creator of WhiteHotTruth.com, which has been called “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality.” She is the author of The Fire Starter Sessions: A Digital Experience for Entrepreneurs, an inspirational speaker, former think tank exec, and news show commentator. You can read all of Danielle’s EcoSalon guest articles here, and find her on Twitter @daniellelaporte.

Image: shaggyshoo

A view from sailing into Port At Fael, the Azores.

As I meet my middle thirties, I’m finding the lifelong, insatiable urge to see this world and be witness to new experience isn’t going away. When I’m home and the grass is long and the bathroom faucet is dripping, I start to feel as though the walls are closing in on me. I look at the objects around me, the possessions I’ve collected on the theme of “me” and I ponder how I got here.

If it’s been too long since I’ve traveled, I feel out of context even in the construct of my own design: this is not my house, this is not my beautiful wife. It’s not the old cliche about feeling imprisoned, but it is a bit like being fixed in a diorama I’ve built to suit my needs, my wishes and some of my desires. That’s the problem: it’s all me, me marinating in the thought of me.

We see these static dioramas in our lives every day. Like at cocktail parties. Conversations center around the health care debate, the relative greenness of bamboo flooring and what kind of Ikea furniture doesn’t look too Ikea.

And there’s always that one person at the party who just got back from backpacking in Bhutan or trekking in India. They are sharing a story of life off the beaten path and there is something about the passion of the story that makes us, just for a moment, deify that person because he or she “just did it.” For a moment, you fall out of yourself and let your imagination go wild as the yarn spins to the room. You experience life as an expression of navigation and let yourself become a character in the story being told. You dream of being wherever there is.  You imagine how resourceful (or not) you’d be. You taste the chimichurri, you bathe your bottom in the bidet.

But when the story ends, you find yourself back in your diorama, happy wine buzz fading away with it. Yes, it’s hard to get away. It’s hard to button up the house, forget the hedge trimming and jump into an ecstatic mode of being in some foreign place. But don’t you want it?

Trust me, you do. Make a plan, set a date. Read Travels with Charley. Even the planning phase will begin to disentangle you from you. You’ll start thinking of different ways of thinking and how different people live different lives. And once you go, you’ll come back to your diorama and it won’t look the same.  You’ll notice objects in your life that have been there for ages, but you never noticed them quite in the way you do now, with fresh eyes. Maybe they’ll even take on new meaning. You’ll think about the flavor of your tap water compared to where you were. You’ll think about the shape of your toilet, you’ll think about someone else’s health care debate and all of the sudden you’ll feel what all people who travel know: traveling makes you a better person in your home world.

If you keep upbeat, do you really live longer?

A new study by the University of Pittsburgh offers a tantalizing hint. After looking at a population sample of women aged 50 and over, researchers have concluded that there is some kind of link between people with cheery attitudes, and those with higher longevity and resistance to diseases and health disorders.

Okay. Perhaps you’d now like to join one of two queues that are busily forming. The first is the “Well, Duh” queue, occupied by everyone who takes a wry view of scientific findings that confirm what’s widely held as “common sense”. The second is the “Science, What Science?” line. This is where you’ll hear: “how exactly can something as woolly as a positive outlook actually improve your physical health?”

Team leader Dr. Hilary Tindle doesn’t know either – and she points out that this research doesn’t claim that you can grin your way to a ripe old age. (It may well be that simple, but we still don’t know). Yet these findings are weighty. The sample? A whopping 100,000 women.  Of these, the proportion demonstrating an optimistic approach were significantly more likely to dodge ailments and death than their more pessimistic counterparts – a 14% better chance of being alive 8 years after the study began, and an impressive 30% lower likelihood of suffering heart disease during that time.

It’s true that these figures are based on subjective category assignments – a certain amount of informed pigeonholing by the research team – but it’s clear there’s something going on here. And while I’m waiting to find out what it is, I’ll be making sure I have a smile on my face.

Recommended Reading: Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project

Image: milena mihaylova

What was really interesting about the study, though, is that they found a holographic effect with happiness. If something makes you happy, your friends, who may not even be around, have a higher chance of feeling happy, too. You’ve probably heard it explained from a metaphysical standpoint that your vibration is only as high as the “vibes” of those you spend the most time with.

So choose your friends wisely – the impact may be social, emotional and spiritual as well. And, in science’s defense, it’s nice to see objective evidence of things we know, deep down, to ring true.

Image: Shereen M