Suggested Outline for Happiness Department in Madhya Pradesh

I am happy that ‘Anand Vibhaag’ (Department of Happiness) is finally taking shape in my state Madhya Pradesh in India. A meeting to chalk out its outline is being held in Bhopal on 10^th August 2016 under the leadership of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Principal Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains.

As the outline of the department of happiness is being formulated, I have a few humble points to make.

Yoga and Meditation, no doubt, are vital pillars of happiness and peace. However, they alone cannot usher in happiness and well-being. We have to blend ancient wisdom of our sages with modern science for optimum results.

A gargantuan work has been done in the field of ‘Happiness and Well-Being’ after Martin Seligman, in 1998, as president of the American Psychological Association, urged “psychology to supplement its venerable goal with a new goal: exploring what makes life worth living and building the enabling conditions of a life worth living”.

Positive Psychology should be an integral part of any modern day happiness programme anywhere in the world.

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.

Likewise, positive education and positive health merit mention and inclusion in the happiness curriculum.

Positive education is defined as education for both traditional skills and for happiness. The high prevalence worldwide of depression among young people, the small rise in life satisfaction, and the synergy between learning and positive emotion all argue that the skills for happiness should be taught in school. There is substantial evidence from well controlled studies that skills that increase resilience, positive emotion, engagement and meaning can be taught to school children.

The field of medicine has long focused on the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of disease. But health is more than the mere absence of disease. The emerging concept of Positive Health takes an innovative approach to health and well-being that focuses on promoting people’s positive health assets, which might include biological factors, such as high heart rate variability; subjective factors, such as optimism; and functional factors, such as a stable marriage—strengths that can contribute to a healthier, longer life.

Last, but not the least, Laughter Yoga, one of the most effective tools for creating instant joy, should be an integral part of any happiness curriculum.

Laughter Yoga is a combination of laughter exercises and yogic breathing that strengthens our immune system and generates feel good hormones in the body. Laughter is triggered with the help of exercises which soon turns into real and contagious laughter with eye contact and childlike playfulness. It is a simple yet profound method of busting physical, mental and emotional stress in one go.

Wishing the Happiness Department in Madhya Pradesh all the happiness and a grand success!

Jagat Singh Bisht

(The blogger is a Happiness Coach & Laughter Yoga Master Trainer based in Indore, India with a background of Behavioural Science, Positive Psychology, Yoga, Meditation and Laughter Yoga. He is the founder of LifeSkills. He may be reached at coolbisht@hotmail.com, facebook.com/CoolBisht, @CoolBisht and +91 7389938255)