Happiness is an abstract concept, but John Havens is working hard to use concrete data to make everyone happier.


Havens is the founder of the H(app)athon Project[1] , which tracks action and behaviors to learn more about what gives people a long-term sense of happiness.


Havens explained to HuffPost Live's Nancy Redd[2] that the technology uses qualitative and quantitative metrics from around the world to examine "happiness indicators" that signify wellbeing -- "not just happiness of mood, but all these different elements that factor into a citizen's or a person's overall flourishing."


"In the same way you have tools that measure things, like Fitbit that measures your health or things that measure your purchases, why not use these same tools to measure your purpose?" Havens said.


See the full conversation about the H(app)athon Project at HuffPost Live HERE[3] .



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  • You not only have the right to pursue happiness, you also have a responsibility to pursue it. Learn to be happy with who you are and what you have right now, and in this state of mind: It gets easier to do the right things that bring even more happiness to you.




  • A first step to being happy is to stop worrying about all of those things that you can do nothing about. Start focusing on making changes that will bring more happiness to you.




  • Inspirational Dissatisfaction is a fabulous state of being that enhances the experience of happiness. It’s a condition of mind in which you always have something more to wish for. This gives you that feeling of aliveness that feels so delightful.




  • Happiness is the ultimate reward you get from achieving a goal that is important to you. It’s not breaking a world record or amassing material wealth; it’s the experience of successful completion.




  • Happiness comes with quality of action, which is about being effective. It does not come with quantity of action that includes purposeless motion.




  • When what you are is what you yearn to be -- you are happy.