shiny happy people

According to this feature from Forbes on MSN, I can happily report that I am living in one of the happiest countries in the world. With Costa Rica taking the top spot for happiness and Panama following in the number three spot, Canada was awarded silver as the second happiest country within the Americas and I think that gives all us Canucks a little something extra to smile about. Add to it the fact that my country is sandwiched between two tropical tourist destinations and it sure does make me proud to be living where I am.


While I don’t live in the happiest city in Canada - that award has gone to Montreal, having been ranked number two by Lonely Planet – I do have to agree with Lonely Planet’s US Travel Editor, Robert Reid. He says “...you can find happiness anywhere you go...” and I’m positive he’s right! If you ask me, happiness is subjective. It means different things to different people for different reasons so to claim that my city may be happier then yours seems only to be a matter of opinion. I enjoy where I live, I enjoy the people around me and I truly enjoy my life. But I think that there are hundreds of places that I could live that would provide the same level of happiness that I experience in my current city. I think my happiness has more to do with what I make of my surroundings than the actual city, or country, itself. I’m sure if we all ranked the places we’ve been in terms of what city made us smile the most or what country we thought was the happiest, we’d be giving out awards to a lot of different destinations. Either way, I’m going to keep smiling…not only because Canada is a happy country but, more importantly, because I have lots to be happy about.

Do you live in a happy city? How do you measure happiness?