I'm feeling a little grumpy. This is to be expected, as I've discovered today while reading Gross National Happiness by Arthur C. Brooks. According to Brooks I am not cut out to be a happy person at all.
This is mainly because I practise no religion, and would describe myself as a moderate liberal - two factors that get me off to a terrible start, apparently; and although I'm married (which is in my favour) I have kids, which statistically reduces my general happiness; I don't have a job and I'm a bit of a tight-wad; and as if all that weren't enough, I'm European.
Brooks really has it in for Europeans. As with secular liberal Americans, it seems our only redeeming feature is that we don't tend to breed very much and will therefore soon die out leaving more room for happy religious conservatives, who reproduce a lot because their religion and conservatism cancel out the unhappiness caused by having children.
Strangely enough, Mr Brooks is a man of faith with conservative leanings. So I guess he's feeling pretty happy. You might almost say smug.
And now I think I'll just go and wallow in some good old-fashioned secular liberal angst.
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