Iceland

I'm not sure if it's the large amounts of Sigur Ros I'm listening to these days, but I'm being drawn across the Atlantic to the small island nation of Iceland. I should really blame Eric Weiner.

Years ago I read The Geography of Bliss and loved the book. But the section that fascinated me the most was Weiner's profile of Iceland. In the book he makes Iceland seem ideal (other than the weather of course) in that language and poetry are an integral part of life. Failure does not have the stigma that it does in our society. And best of all, there is a great openness and acceptance about the Icelandic people. Since then I've been dreaming of cozy cafes, sipping coffee, and reading poetry in Icelandic. I badly want to visit but my thought have even gone as far as to consider living there.

I have several pictures on my computer of Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland. I have even more of the Iceland countryside. I love the untamed wild look of the place. If you ever want to see beauty, just do a Google image search for Iceland Night. Even the images of snow and ice don't turn me away. While I have long railed against winter, my head seems to point further north. I look at images of northern Canada and Iceland with longing. The quiet northern places draw me with the lure of solitude and wildness.

I'm only starting to learn more about the country beyond the basics that I've read. The more I've read the more fascinated I've become with the place. It continues to be listed as one of the happiest countries on Earth, that despite the months of hard winter. While I'd probably visit in the summer, I would love to go one year in winter to see the Auroras. Lately I've begun listening to a few Icelandic language lessons. I've spent hours on travel sites looking at hotels and places to see. I probably won't be going anytime soon (Jeff is a little short of vacation) but I'm more than content to dream and plan. I never thought a cold island would draw me, but I can't wait to travel there.

Find a Happy Place, Find a Happy Place!!!

Leave it to me to quote a cartoon to talk about a book on happiness. (Peach in Finding Nemo) I just finished reading The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner and I found myself intrigued. Most people will tell you that happiness is a state of mind. Weiner sets out to see if that state of mind has something to do with the state you're in. Or more particularly the country.

The book follows Weiner on a year's journey to discover the happiest places in the world. He visits places from Iceland, Qatar, Bhutan, Thailand, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Moldova (one of the least happiest countries on earth). In each country he settles in and starts trying to figure out why the people there are so happy. What secrets they know that the rest of us don't.

He starts with the data gathered by the World Database on Happiness in Amsterdam. I had been aware of the Database for a while from when I was doing research on childlessness. The project attempts to quantify happiness and break it down by its components. Some are common sense, others are not. People in close communities tend to be happier, religous people tend to be happier, childless people tend to be happier, and for some odd reason middle earners tend to be happier. The database also looks at location, what countries report the highest levels of happiness.

So Weiner goes to visit those countries (and some others) to see what makes them tick. Each country is very different and some of the reasons for happiness are very different. As he says Switzerland is very rigid and repressed but happy. Thailand is very laid-back and easy going and happy. Iceland is very cold and dark but happy. But some of the similarities shine through. All have good social structures (family and community is important). All have appreciation for the land surrounding them. All work to eliminate envy and discord in their society.

Iceland was, for me, the most interesting chapter. Now I'm not a fan of winter or cold but by the end of that chapter I would have willingly moved to Iceland. I would have been more than happy to live in darkness half the year for a taste of the social structure they have. Weiner discusses the creative energy of Iceland (everyone is a writer or poet, everyone!). He says how the Icelandic people have a different view of failure, celebrating failed attempts and constantly reinventing themselves. He talks about how with the small population everyone is very close knit. They have to be in order to survive.

I often imagine that geography and happiness go together. I've never felt exactly at home in my American skin. Something about the culture just doesn't move at the same speed I do. I used to think that I was just born at the wrong time, but now I wonder if it wasn't the wrong place. I always imagined I was British and I have to admit that the chapter on Great Britain made me think that I could live there as well. I'm happy here in Iowa (since the pace of life tends to be slower), but there is just the occasional thought that something is not right. That somehow I'm not in step with my society. Perhaps we all have to go find our happy place.

Biophilia

I'm reading The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. In the book Weiner, an NPR journalist, travels around the world looking for the happiest places. One of the places he starts his journey at is in Switzerland. He is trying to figure out why the Swiss are so happy when he stumbles upon a word that sums up beautifully one of the things that makes me the happiest: biophilia. 

Have you ever gone walking in the woods? It doesn't matter what mood you have when you enter the woods. If you allow yourself to just be part of the woods you will walk out happier. There is a strange sense of peace we get when you are surrounded by nature. I never realized that there was a word for this feeling. The official definition is "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life". Biophilia was coined by Edward O. Wilson in 1984. Perhaps this could explain why deeply urban dwellers seem to be less happy. There is simply less contact with the natural world. 

This is something I had noticed on my own many times. We took a cruise in October which was wonderful. But I noticed that I was starting to get irritable by the third day. We had been off the boat but Key West was mostly city, and Cozumel was mostly rushed. By Belize, Jeff and I were both frustrated and snapping. Then this little fellow came into my life. 

We were up walking on the deck when we found him. He appeared young and injured and I watched him for over three hours unsure of what to do to help. Mostly I wanted to protect him from people coming over and disturbing him. My hope is that with rest he would be strong again. I sketched him from afar and watched him. And my soul was soothed. The crew captured him (at the request of some other cruisers) and hopefully helped him off the boat to a rehabilitation clinic. That is my only hope. I cried as he was taken away assuming they would kill him. Now I don't know. I have no idea what species he is. If anyone knows, please leave a comment with it. All I know is that spending some time watching and protecting him, made me feel like myself again. I had missed that contact with nature.