A new book details a simple test which can tell anyone whether they are happy, very happy or flourishing – and help pinpoint sources of unhappiness.
The test uses a mathematical formula made up of a person’s feelings of hope and their ‘hunger’ (whether this is for relationships or success).
Its creator, Dr Alphonsus Obayuwana told DailyMail.com: ‘The formula is hope over hunger equals happiness.’
He developed a tool for measuring human happiness as a medical student in 1979, which was adopted by Fortune 500 companies including Coca Cola.
The test gives people a Personal Happiness Index which can be measured to three decimal places.
To take the test, scroll to the bottom of this article:
The tool measures happiness and works for everyone (Shutterstock)
If your Personal Happiness Index is more than one, you are considered happy, and if it is less than one, you are considered unhappy.
Dr Obayuwana said: ‘This is a discovery, actually. This equation found me. So now everybody can have a happiness index.
Dr. Alphonsus Obayuwana
‘You can use it in any country to find happy people, very unhappy people, flourishing individuals and languishing individuals in any country.’
He claimed that current methods of measuring happiness (including those used in the Gallup polls to measure worldwide happiness) are flawed – and fail to take into account important details.
For example, he pointed to results such as Finland regularly topping the charts, despite also having a high suicide rate.
‘The problem with current questionnaires is that it is very simplistic and is poorly informative and rudimentary for something as important as happiness,’ Dr Obayuwana said, pointing out that GDP is often used to measure happiness.
He also pointed to the rudimentary way the questions are laid out. ‘In these surveys, they say that imagining the worst possible life is zero and the best possible life is 10
‘The problem is that people tend to see the question as political, or answer it differently depending on whether they are in Asian countries or the West.’
Dr. Alphonsus Obayuwana is author of the new book The Happiness Formula: A Scientific, Groundbreaking Approach to Happiness and Personal Fulfillment
He added: ‘I’ve made a discovery of a very simple equation that makes it possible for the first time ever to assign a numerical happiness score to people. The formula is hope over hunger equals happiness.’
The test takes just five minutes and measures people’s feelings of hope and also their hunger for five compelling human desires – intimacy, trust, food and comfort, information and continuity.
The book offers case studies and examples of how people have made themselves happier using hope and dealing with their hunger.
One such example is Patty Stonesifer, who rose through the ranks in the technology industry and was named by Time magazine as one of the twenty-five most influential people in America back in 1996.
Stonesifer gave it up to become head of Martha’s Table, a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC, which serves and feeds the poor – having felt the ’emptiness’ of her previous life.
The Happiness Formula: A Scientific, Groundbreaking Approach to Happiness and Personal Fulfillment is released on March 12, published by Simon and Schuster.
