Wish-for-Happiness

Not only, but also

Not only, but also

He who does not worry about happiness is the happiest, Seneca once said and wrote a comprehensive book on this topic. Nowadays, book after book is published on the subject. The desire for happiness is more present than ever, its fulfilment an important driving force of the economy. But in order to recognise it, one has to be able to differentiate. By Wilhelm Schmid, translated from the German by Christoph Ulbert, LaToya Vaughn, Viktorija Tapai, Maciej Maj and Margarita Müller read more
Resilient for Life

Resilient for Life

You can learn how to be happy. It is even a subject in some schools in Germany nowadays. You will not learn how to develop a successful career or how to find the love of your life. But you can learn to go through life with confidence and satisfaction. By Nicole Walter, translated from the German by Viktorija Tapai and Ruthild Gärtner read more
The right ingredients

The right ingredients

Culinary delight can make you happy. But a bite of delight cannot be bought – either in a delicatessen or in a fine restaurant. The keys to culinary pleasure lie in the mind and the senses, as is the case with curly kale or chocolate. By Klaus Dahlbeck, translated from the German by Olympia Klassen, Chantal Gruber and Kerstin Haep read more
Initiative instead of frustration

Initiative instead of frustration

According to traditional business economics, many companies should not even exist. However, a completely different way of economical success could develop, in contrast to the theory,
if happiness played the lead instead of money. By Annette Jensen, translated from the German by Chantal Gruber, Yvette Gossel and Ruthild Garner read more
A nice day

A nice day

Streets filled with people instead of cars, happy faces, no rushing. Events such as the ‘Car-Free Sunday’ and the ‘Tag des guten Lebens’, a day celebrating the good life, made people’s genuine wishes come true, beyond their usual consumption habits. By Davide Brocchi, translated from the German by Inga Festersen, Eva Flucke, Ruthild Gärtner and Viktorija Tapai read more
Zum Glück gibt es das Postwachstum

Zum Glück gibt es das Postwachstum

Wenn Menschen und Gesellschaften Glück und Zufriedenheit jenseits von materiellem Konsum und wirtschaftlicher Wachstumsorientierung erlangen wollen, benötigen sie dazu positive Bedingungen auf individueller, wirtschaftlicher und politischer Seite. Von Marcel Hunecke read more
Besser als BIP

Besser als BIP

Im Staat Bhutan wächst das Brutto-national-glück. Dort ist Wohlbefinden statt materieller Wohlstand der nationale Leistungsindikator, ohne dass „arm aber glücklich“ gilt. Die UN hält das Modell für übertragbar. Ein Reisebericht von Maja Göpel read more

The good life

factory Titel Glück-Wunsch

If you are healthy, satisfied, and successful, if you have a good life, everyone would probably say that you are happy. Happiness researchers have determined that most people in successful relationships are happy if they can autonomously complete useful tasks, if they experience little inequality and if they have possibilities to participate. Happiness is the fulfillment of people’s wishes and desires. The term happiness is complex; it encompasses moments of happiness as well as lasting bliss. It describes a happy coincidence or a life of happiness. Yet, this has little to do with material wealth. Still, most people are running on a status treadmill, as the economist Mathias Binswanger calls it. They aspire to something better, want to own, consume and earn more and, given the stress involved, are less and less able to enjoy life. Ute Scheub also points this out in the chapter on happiness in her book Beschissatlas (cheat atlas). However, business and advertising only support this pursuit of ?more?. The good life for all, however, only results from uniting prosperity, the social fabric and a sound environment. Those who advocate a sustainable society will thus also have to address happiness and wishes as well as their less resource-intensive fulfillment.

At factory, on the other hand, we do this by using a hyphenated title. Wish-for-Happiness allows the best-known happiness philosopher Wilhelm Schmid to begin with a definition of happiness. It shows where learning resilience is essential, and it demonstrates that in a country of intensive livestock farming there are indeed still some happy pigs (only in PDF-magazine). You will also learn how good life is with kale and chocolate, why a founder’s happiness essentially works towards change and how doing without a technological device can lead to wonderful moments. A travelogue from Bhutan asks whether the growth of gross national happiness is an alternative to that of the gross national product, and psychologist Marcel Hunecke explains how post-growth increases happiness. 

We join in congratulating the Effizienz-Agentur NRW (agency for resource efficiency in North Rhine Westphalia) on promoting resource efficiency for 15 years – the Wish-for-Happiness may not only appeal to the birthday celebrants. We wish you all the best and hope you enjoy reading. 

Ralf Bindel and the factory team

(Translated by: Sandra Walter, Annika Wagener, Anna Lena Vohl, Mareike Baudewig, Rebecca Brookes)

More articles to the topics of happiness, wishes and the good life you will find either online or in our magazine Wish-to-Happiness. Finly illustrated and lightly readable on tablet-computers and screens the PDF-magazine contains all articles and pictures as well as additional numbers and quotatians.

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Wish-for-Happiness

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