This website is influenced by a relatively new movement, called Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology was started by Martin Seligman, who is former President of the APA (American Psychological Assn). Seligman was himself admittedly a stuffed shirt intellectual researcher. He spent most of his time researching helplessness and how people natually learned helplessness. One day he woke up and realized that the whole field of psychology and healthcare was focused in this negative direction. That's when Seligman decided to shift his focus to studying and practicing wellness and psychology from a positive standpoint. Seligman's books have influenced multitudes of people to embrace mental and physical health from this new enlightened perspective.
Another important figure in this movement, Ruut Veenhoven from Rotterdam, has been labelled the "godfather of happiness research." Veenhoven has created something called the global happiness database with a worldwide happiness map rating each nation on a number of criteria to come up with a happiness idex. The results may seem quite surprising, even shocking to some people. For example, some not so wealthy nations like India, or Iceland, are considered high on the happiness scale.
The Geography of Bliss is an interesting book written by Eric Weiner a former National Public Radio foreign correspondant. Weiner went on a global pilgrimage to explore happiness in different countries and was surprised to find out some startling truths about happiness.
