The Cornerstones

Cornerstones for Happynomics

1. People and Earth be first.
2. Consume, literally: do consume till the end, each good and service. Do not replace until a good or service are totally out of use value. Do recycle: vintage is chic. Do help others in consuming (three people can drink out one giant soda at a fast food spot). Repair as long as you can. Remenber the 3 “R” of Kenneth Boulding and Walter R. Stahel: repair, restore and regenerate. Contribute to a care economy.
3. Consume consciously: be aware of your consumption behavior, about the need and convenience of new goods and services, about their value and their effects on other´s lives and cultures, and on the equilibrium of our planet.
4. Produce consciously: take into account the effects on social, knowledge and environmental dynamics. Producing goods and services should not only be oriented to costs, but rather to value; society will return on you what it gets from you in this informed world we live in.
5. Be conservative: conserve biodiversity; preserve fruits in the form of jams before they get too ripe; conserve soils and water pure; conserve your friends; conserve your shape.
6. Make life, not war: like bonobos, socialize while loving. Love creates natural drugs free from charge, keeps you fit and reduces testosterone, releasing stress and also violent impulses.
7. Always cooperate and co-design, and don´t be afraid to share: in a knowledge and interconnected society, individual capacities are almost always not enough to provide real value for partners and customers. Knowledge can be shared without loosing any of it. Cooperation enriches you, and also the solutions you provide to others.
8. Join in. Participating in others´ projects, sharing others´ ideas and dreams, is as important as being an entrepreneur or a social leader. Your energy is always valuable for others, and there are thousands of interesting organizations, businesses, causes and visions creating value in a way than can provide you with satisfaction, and be aligned with your own interests.
9. Time is gold: “time is the new currency, time is the only scarce resource and time is the new status symbol” (Yeoman, I. see link at Cornell Un.). Dedicate your time to the important things, be very conscious about what things are really important. Enjoy your time and others’ as much as possible.
10. Use appropiate indicators in order to measure the effect of your strategy and action towards a happier community or organization. Any successful approach has to be participatory and systemic.
11. Be optimistic and pragmatic: these are the modes in which you are more useful towards others and yourself.
12. Care about taking care of living beings, more than about stuff (http://caringeconomy.org/newindicators/)
13. Input as much positive as you can into your world, and put out as much negative as you are able to manage.
14. Own´s happiness depends on others´.
15. Happiness is no childish out-of-mind state, it is rather Eudaimonia: “is a Greek word commonly translated as happiness or welfare; however, “human flourishing” has been proposed as a more accurate translation. Etymologically, it consists of the words “eu” (“good”) and “daimōn” (“spirit”). It is a central concept in Aristotelian ethics and political philosophy, along with the terms “aretē“, most often translated as “virtue” or “excellence”, and “phronesis“, often translated as “practical or ethical wisdom” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia). It depends on the coherence of one´s mind and acts with ethical standards and live-long learning.