To know that we are healthy is one of the most important factors for people to feel "happiness". WHO said, "the word "health" is not only a condition where that there is no illness or weakness, but a perfect condition of physical, mental and social welfare". That is to say, health is not only a measurement of our physical well being.

When we are conscious of our health, we will engage, by instinct and by choice, in activities and behavior that keep us in a condition. We have a meal, do exercise and sleep with the expectation that "I can keep my health". If this is the case, then how can we estimate how much we need to do to keep healthy?

To make a quantitive measurement of the condition of our health is difficult. Different people have different feelings, senses, perceptions and goals. This difficulty of measurement is similar to when we try to measure our "happiness".

The state where we don't have any fear for our life is only one of the conditions taken into account where we measure our "happiness". No two people will be able to share exactly the same feelings from their own lives.

In thinking about health, we also need to take mental factor into account. As a first step we should pay attention to our own personal "happiness" in our ordinary lives. Then we should try to live a lifestyle which is compatible with our society hoping to meet our enough expectations and gain satisfaction. And then step by step, "something" will gain up from inside.

Ordinarily, "health" might be a word of concern for people who are not always healthy or are afraid to lose their health. Equally, in studying GNH, is searching for happiness also a strange concept to expect for people who live in a peaceful society.

Tadanori Takada