| Who is the happiest person in America? USA | | | | Virginia Beach, in case you didn't know. If |
| Today featured Happiest Person in a cover story | | | | somebody even happier than Happiest Person |
| in its USA Weekend magazine. Bad news: it's not | | | | lives in San Francisco or Vermont, the USA |
| you. Nor is it me.Just how did they find Happiest | | | | Today research team does not want to |
| Person and determine that he is indeed the | | | | know.Why confine their search to one town? |
| happiest person in America? The USA Today | | | | Could geography be the secret to happiness that |
| research team appears to have used an elegantly | | | | Seligman failed to mention? True, research does |
| simple three-step process.First, they identified "the | | | | show that people living in free societies tend to be |
| world's leading authority on happiness", Martin | | | | happier than others, but there is no evidence that |
| Seligman ... which must have come as a wee bit | | | | where you live within the free world makes a |
| of a surprise to several of his equally well-known | | | | difference.Sex. Women are prone to higher |
| and equally well-respected peers. How they picked | | | | emotional highs and lower emotional lows, |
| Seligman remains more of a mystery than how a | | | | whereas men are prone to more constant |
| land-locked nation of mountains and yodeling | | | | emotions. So Happiest Person must be a man, |
| became home to the holy grail of yachting, but | | | | concludes USA Today. While the science does hit |
| we are working feverishly to crack the | | | | the bull's eye, the conclusion misses the barn wall. |
| code.Next, they asked Seligman to name six | | | | I suppose they'll be telling us that Seattle is the |
| principles of happiness. Seligman listed couple | | | | sunniest spot in America because the weather |
| strengths, a win-win approach, savoring success, | | | | fluctuates less than in The Sunshine State.Family. |
| playing to one's strengths, opening doors to | | | | Happiest Person is married, has children, and is |
| opportunity and finding meaning in life.Finally, they | | | | healthy. People with intimate relationships do tend |
| applied Seligman's principles to determine who best | | | | to be happier, and marriage is a fairly good |
| matches them. Naawww, just kidding. That would | | | | indicator (especially for men). And health is |
| make way too much sense. Instead, USA Today | | | | important. These may not be among Seligman's |
| created a make-believe process of its own that | | | | six principles, but let's not argue against good |
| stands out from Seligman's list like the Jolly Green | | | | health.Money. Happiest person has a "good, |
| Giant at a dwarf convention. Here is the USA | | | | dependable job" as a stockbroker, a 2,300 square |
| Today process.Geography. It seems that Happiest | | | | foot house (with an eat-in kitchen and a deck!). |
| Person must live in the best place to live, which is | | | | |