What Finland can teach us about happiness, according to a Finnish psychologist
In 2023, for the sixth year in a row, Finland was ranked the happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report. But this may not be obvious given the way that Finnish people talk about happiness, according to Frank Martela, a happiness expert and psychologist who lives in Finland.
Last year, an article in The New York Times entitled “The Finnish Secret to Happiness? Knowing When You Have Enough” unpacked this counterintuitive phenomenon: Why do the Finns not view themselves as happy as the data say they are?
“I wouldn’t say that I consider us very happy,” Nina Hansen, a high school English teacher from Kokkola, told The New York Times. “I’m a little suspicious of that word, actually.”
Finland’s robust welfare system offers its citizens health care, education and unemployment benefits, which contribute to economic stability and security in society. “It makes people feel safe and secure, to not be left out of society,” Teemu Kiiski said in the same New York Times article.
In a recent article on CNBC, Martela, a lecturer at Aalto University in Finland and the author of “A Wonderful Life: Insights on Finding a Meaningful Existence,” shared the surprising four phrases that reflect the way that Finnish people talk and think about happiness.
“Who has happiness should hide it.”
Shying away from overt expressions of happiness comes from the Finns’ “modest national temperament,” according to Martela. The phrase was coined by Eino Leino, Finland’s national poet. Finnish people tend to drive modest cars and live more restrained lifestyles, including clothing and material possessions, he said. “It’s human nature to compare ourselves to others, which often has a negative effect on our happiness. However, in Finland and other Nordic countries, people tend to be more oblivious to those comparisons — and more content,” Martela wrote for CNBC.
“The pessimist will never be disappointed.”
Finnish people share the attitude of “meliorism,” Martela writes — the idea that everything is always “capable of improvement,” he said. “Accepting these inevitable struggles, while focusing on what is still in your hands and can be improved, will keep you active and energized even during tough times,” he said in the article.
“Everyone is the blacksmith of their own happiness.”
This is another popular saying in Finland, which points to one’s individual responsibility to foster happiness in their own life. Martela acknowledges, however, the importance of the community and support networks in helping achieve a state of happiness. “We need both our own effort and the support of our community to succeed,” he said.
“Some have happiness, everyone has summer.”
This century-old expression is a reminder that so many factors are outside of our control, and regardless of the present struggle, a brighter future is ahead. “We Finns know that, no matter the situation, you can always count on one thing: sooner or later, summer will come to us all,” Martela wrote for CNBC.
