Happiness is...

The rash of articles about how happy Bellingham, Seattle and at least nine other places are leads us to reflect on the gross community happiness of Birch Bay.

John Stark's article in the January 20 Bellingham Herald; http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/01/20/1826723/bellingham-listed-among-top-10.html), Nicole Brodeur's column in the January 21 Seattle Times; http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nicolebrodeur/2013992168_nicole21m.html) and Sunset Magazine online http://www.sunset.com/travel/outdoor-adventure/best-places-to-live-00418000070574/) all cite examples of happy people in happy locations.

Happy Minister of Tourism

We first heard about the concept of gross national happiness at a Congress of the Society of Ethnobiologists last year. The 2014 biannual congress will be held in Bhutan, where the king had proclaimed that gross domestic product was less important than gross national happiness. The CSE representative from Bhutan presented an idyllic image of life in his country, although Brodeur points out that some minorities might not agree.

In a very unscientific survey of a few folks in Birch Bay, we learned that the reason people live or repeatedly vacation in Birch Bay is because they are happy when they are here. We feel the same way.

Photo taken January 21, 2011

It is easy to see why with such views greeting us in the middle of winter.

While Birch Bay has not been analyzed in the same way as Bellingham or Seattle, we can learn how satisfied we are with life by the bay. Brodeur introduces us to Michael Pennock, a population health epidemiologist for the Vancouver Island Health Authority, who spent time in Bhutan and since led a team that created a “Satisfaction with Life” survey. It is available on Sustainable Seattle's web site www.SustainableSeattle.org.

My overall score is 80, with the median now being 68; the dimension contributing the lowest score related to my confidence in government, go figure.

Just for fun, let's collect our overall scores, anonymously if you like, but telling us if you live or regularly work or play in Birch Bay. Report through the Comment option on this blog. We won't publish the individual responses, only aggregate them by the Ides of Febuary. 

Here's to proving the thesis that Birch Bay has a high life satisfaction score, translating into a high gross community happiness quotient.

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