Are Singaporeans happy or unhappy?

As the jam-packed train reaches Clementi station in the morning rush hour, passengers from the station begin making their way to squeeze into whatever standing space they could find inside the train; the station usher offered his help and ask the passengers inside politely to move in further so that more people outside could get into the train.

Out of a sudden, a lady passenger in the train, shouted back in an angry tone.

"NO SPACE ALREADY, YOU STILL WANT ME TO MOVE IN!?

There is a long silence.

Everyone inside the train kept quiet; but deep in our hearts, some of us may probably think that the woman must have finally let out her suppressed emotions which make her 'erupted' at this very moment.

Also being "sandwiched" at the other end of the train door, I begin to ponder:

"Perhaps, most of us kept our emotions deep inside for as long as we want it to be and we try not to let out those emotions so easily. Perhaps, such incident is commonly seen every once in a while especially during the peak hours so it is better not to be involved in it. Perhaps, the Happy Planet Index is right to rank Singapore 90th out of 151 countries in the world in terms of national happiness. And also, poor old station usher who got scolded at the heat of the moment."

Happiness vs Unhappiness

Draw a fine line in between a piece of paper and write "Happy" and "Unhappy" on each side of it. We can choose to be happy or unhappy. The choice is ours to make. In my opinion, I strongly feel that all people, be it foreigners or Singaporeans, are good and happy by nature. It is just that, in reality, the things that are happening around us today, cause some of us to choose to be unhappy.

Some of these factors that make most of us unhappy today are things like crowded trains everyday, not enough salaries to sustain the high cost of living today like the expensive housing and food, work stress, foreign competition, no work life balance and the list goes on.

In his book, the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explained how little things could make a big difference in society. Hence, start from oneself, by giving in to more positive things around us, you could also influence others and perhaps, the society, to act positively as well. The choice is yours to made.

There are many things to be happy in this realistic society. Here are some of the ways:

Be Contented at where you are Now but, Never stop Advancing

You need to be contented with where you are right now realistically, while at the same time, you should also keep on advancing to better yourself each day in terms of skills, getting a better career and so on. So that, in this way, we will not be stuck in status quo. By being contented and with a positive goal in mind to better yourself, things around you will definitely change for the better!

Find more work life balance

Working overtime is unhealthy and it may lead to more work stress, tiredness and unhappiness. Hence, you should leave your work on time and find ways to create work life balance with your family and friends. In order to have more happy employees, employers should also help the employees to fulfill their work life balance needs. However, sad to say, some employers in Singapore today may see it in a different way when they feel that working overtime is necessary in order to maximize profits and minimize their costs.

Smile

You should smile. I mean, you should smile a lot. Not a fake smile but a real genuine smile. A real simple smile not only make you positive and happy, it also makes other people happy as well. When you put up a genuine smile to strangers, it also shows that you respect and appreciate for who they are. Whether they are younger or older than you, rich or poor, Singaporeans or foreigners, it does not matter at all. So, go out and smile more today!
Do more good little things but do not expect anything in return

There is a saying, "the more you give, the more you will receive." In order to make this saying more realistic a little, maybe I should change it into, "do more selflessly and do not expect anything in return." When we do things selflessly without expecting any form of return, we will feel happier doing it. In fact, from many real life encounters, I have also already seen people helping people in many small ways. These little encounters reinforced my belief that all people living in Singapore are good by nature. Now, who says Singapore is the most emotionless society in the world? [Response to the Gallup Survey]

In summary, we all can choose to be happy while living in this realistic society. When we look at a "half filled cup", we can make choices to convince ourselves whether the cup is half-empty or the cup is half full. Just remember, any little positive change in ourselves could make a BIG difference in society.