Greener Grass of Well Being

If you’re suffering through this high unemployment downturn you might be thinking: “Who Moved My Cheese!” You wouldn’t be alone. This is a new era. This is a new time. This the age of Obama where anything is possible. If you’re not happy here you can always go somewhere else and be happy right. It’s not quite “the grass is always greener syndrome” is it? Is it attainable somewhere else?

It might be unless you’re unhappy here. We are “(a)mong the nation's 52 largest metropolitan areas that Gallup surveyed in 2009, San Jose, Calif., had the highest well-being in the nation followed closely by Washington, D.C., according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Rounding out the top five well-being cities are Raleigh, N.C., Minneapolis, and San Francisco.” (Gallup)

If you are unhappy or rather if you aren’t feeling the well-being maybe you can down size /up size from North to South or South to North. You won’t have to go far to fix your feelings. If it’s here and you’re not feeling it maybe you’d still need to move to San Jose. Can you feel less in San Jose or are there sections where the “highest well-being” can be felt?

State to state the best state to live is Hawaii but in our area Maryland, Virginia and then North Carolina. However what does Gallup mean by “overall well being?”

The Life Evaluation Index, one of six sub-indexes in the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, is calculated using two questions, based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Scale, which ask respondents to rate their present and future lives now on a ladder scale with steps numbered from 0 to 10, where 0 is the worst possible life and 10 is the best possible life. Depending on their responses, Americans are classified as "thriving," "struggling," or "suffering." Improvements in 2009 versus 2008 on this metric alone compensated for declines across each of the other five areas that together make up the Well-Being Index. (Gallup)

When it comes to “Economic Confidence” no state is higher than the District of Columbia followed by Maryland, Virginia and then North Carolina according to the Gallup survey. Whether or not the confidence is misplaced or not isn’t known, only time will tell. For job creations the numbers change with Maryland, Virginia, DC and then North Carolina with North Dakota, Nebraska and West Virginia in the lead. Hiring has Maryland, Virginia, DC and North Carolina following the leaders Louisiana and West Virginia. You’re more likely to be “let go” by North Carolina though it’s way down the list at thirteenth.

Each sub-index is based on several specific questions. The following highlights questions that showed the biggest movement from January 2008 to January 2010 - (Gallup)

Don’t worry be happy! Should you enjoy where you are and what you’re doing even if you’re doing nothing? In a short word, yes! That’s easy for us to say! Let’s look at the stats. Gallup says that “San Jose, Calif., had the highest well-being in the nation followed closely by Washington, D.C.” Do you think that if you moved from the District of Columbia to San Jose, California that you’d actually have a better life? Then maybe you should – at the very least you should start to look online for San Jose employment and locate that apartment/ home/ neighborhood where you can experience greater “well-being.” Once you’ve found that “highest well-being” employment then you can make that move.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey-now. Don't be mean; we don't have to be mean, cuz, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.” – Buckaroo Banzai (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)

We apologize. We didn’t mean to be mean.

Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz, didn’t move or take a trip to Oz, she was taken against her will from her home. She left her home for her “well-being” to get her dog Toto back. Dorothy tries to get back home with her “well-being” (Toto). All of her family was safely in the storm cellar away from the house when Dorothy tries to get to them. It’s then she goes to Oz (though there’s no place like being poor and hungry in cyclone torn Kansas).

Both works of fiction are just simply works of fiction. Although works of fiction they do share one common thread. When Dorothy arrives in Oz she makes friends, has hope and isn’t mean because she “remember(s), no matter where you go, there you are.” We haven’t found our cheese but you’re a part of our process.

“We each live in a "Maze", a metaphor for the companies or organizations we work with, the communities we live in, the families we love places where we look for the things we want in life, "Cheese". It may be an enjoyable career, loving relationships, wealth, or spiritual peace of mind. With time and experience, one character eventually succeeds and even prospers from the change in his "Maze".In an effort to share what he has learned along the way, he records his personal discoveries on the maze walls, the "Handwriting on the Wall". Likewise, when we begin to see the "writing on the wall", we discover the simplicity and necessity of adapting to change.” -(“Who Moved My Cheese!”)

You have to decide for yourself what will give you “spiritual peace of mind.” Again the information from the Gallup organization is or rather was probably the most accurate snapshot of current America that will ever have access. If you and or we change our city/state/community might be as happy as San Jose or Hawaii. It might not be that we have to change our residence or employment. We might just have to change our attitudes. In the mean time we can not be mean because here we are.