I think that ... this notion of ‘personal happiness’ that we Americans embrace wholeheartedly, ... most countries around the world, they don’t think of it in those terms.
They view happiness as sort of a communal ‘good’, ... not something that you would ever think of working on by yourself, because in most cultures around the world, happiness is intertwined with our relationships with other people.
It’s your relationship with your friends and your families ... and it might seem obvious, but it’s worth repeating and worth thinking about; that so much of our happiness is really derived from our relationships with others, and that we couldn’t really be happy on a deserted island.
Eric Weiner
The Geography of Bliss
Author and correspondent
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