Can you measure a person’s level of happiness?

Yes you can measure a person’s level of happiness. In fact there are many ways to do this. Research companies may send us questionnaires in the mail or over the internet asking us to rate our level of happiness. Recently, a professor Adrian White from Leicester University in the U.K. developed a global happiness map showing which countries were the happiest. Some researchers have used PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant) and beepers to measure a person’s level of happiness at different points during the hour, day, week etc. There are also questionnaires you can complete online to measure and compare your level of happiness to others. Here are some websites you can log onto to measure your level of happiness:

http://www.happyplanetindex.org/survey.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4785402.stm

There is another way to measure your level of happiness. Take some time to reflect and self-assess your own level of happiness. How happy are you with your life at the moment on a scale of 1 to 10? How often do you experience feelings of happiness? When do you feel the happiest?