Happiness: the greatest gift to possess?

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We’ve been counting it down, but tomorrow is the start of the Global Spa and Wellness Summit proper. The three days ahead each have their own theme under the umbrella of A Defining Moment. The first day focuses on an outward look at the industry very much from a business perspective, the second is an ‘inward’, holistic examination of wellness.  The final day looks at the way forward for the industry.

One country that has taken wellness seriously is Bhutan.  Its Gross National Happiness Index is designed to measure quality of life in a way that is not merely determined by economic indicators.  The concept of GNH has often been explained by its four pillars: good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, cultural preservation and environmental conservation.  Dasho Karma Uro, President of The Centre for Bhutan Studies, will be talking about the index and what its implications are for the future.

In the meantime, I am intrigued by some of the findings in the last index from 2010

• Men are happier than women on average
• Unmarried people and yound people are among the happiest
• The unemployed are happier than corporate employees, housewives, farmers or the national workforce

Make of that what you will…

That’s all from Fashionizer’s warm-up to the GSWS.  We’re now attending the conference, and will give you the low-down on all the speakers and events through our blog at the end of the summit. We’ll be back blogging next Wednesday.

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