Things do not make us happy. Experiences and connections do — It was not like Angela Maxwell wanted to leave behind some unhappy part of her life when she decided to walk around the world. “It was really that I felt compelled. I would even call it a spiritual calling. …

Let the journalists do their job without fear. You may get a happy nation. — Jarno Liski has a type of freedom that Li Xinde does not have. While the freedom is a given for Liski, it is a privilege for Xinde, considering their respective countries. But it is a privilege that Xinde has almost no access to. …

He turns 56 today — I rediscovered myself 14 years ago when I fell in love with the English language. Then I was reborn after I met Jukka Tapio Blom in 2017 when I was in Finland. This Finnish man was my boss at a restaurant I worked in Finland’s capital, Helsinki. We did not…

When I asked Susanna Heiskanen whether Finland topping the happiness rankings for the fourth year in a row in 2021 had made her happy, she replied enthusiastically, “Very happy.” Susanna is a Finnish blogger and podcast host. The Nordic Mum is her blog where she helps people discover the Nordic…

And I had it again this year. But I loved it the way it came. It was a rejection. It landed in my inbox from the New York Times, a prestigious name in the newspaper industry. …

Writing makes him the happiest man in the world despite being unmarried at 57 — Bruce Headlam did not reply to me. I emailed him on 2 May. The moment I clicked the “send” button, I had this feeling that he would not write back. Why should he answer my inconsequential questions? I asked him about Malcolm Gladwell’s happiness. …

A Nordic perspective — What makes you different may become a source of constant criticism thrown at you, and Illumination is no different. Repeatedly, its critics have pointed to its inclusiveness, meaning it publishes every submission it receives from every writer. This is not entirely true. Dr Mehmet Yildiz has already addressed this here. …

The world is your oyster. It is up to you to find the pearls. This is one of the most iconic quotes from the 2006 drama film The Pursuit of Happyness. Though Nat Rutherford, a teaching fellow in political theory at Royal Holloway, University of London, suggests that our pursuit…

Finns can teach us it is the simplest of things that are at the heart of achieving lasting happiness — “Are you happy?” I looked at my Finnish boss as I threw the question at him two years ago. “Yes,” an unhesitating response came from Jukka Tapio Blom, a fun-loving man with a top-notch sense of humour who loves to watch ice hockey on TV. …