Is the elusive search for happiness more simple than we think?

What is happiness? It is certainly not just the absence of negative emotions, but perhaps a balance of experiencing positive feelings while finding purpose. Some say it’s a state of well-being paired with contentment, joy, and a sense that one’s life is meaningful, satisfying, and worthwhile.

It seems the Finns have figured it out. For eight years in a row, Finland has ranked number one in the World Happiness Report. The publication is the world’s foremost publication on global wellbeing and how to improve it. It contains data from more than 140 countries with analysis by researchers from a wide range of academic disciplines.

The report scores countries based on GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and low corruption.

Canada has experienced a steady slide in the World Happiness Report rankings, falling from 11th in 2020 to 18th in 2025 and then to 25th in the most recent 2026 edition. The report attributes much of this decline to worsening life evaluations among younger Canadians, who now rank among the least satisfied in the OECD.

Canada still performs strongly on measures like social support and institutional trust, but the long-term downward trend signals deeper structural pressures on quality of life. What makes Finnish happiness unique is that it isn’t built on fleeting satisfaction —it’s methodical. Finland invests heavily in education, research and development, and environmental sustainability. The Finns value responsibility, foresight, and collaboration. Even simple pleasures—like fresh, clean air, proximity to nature, and the national tradition of sauna — contribute to a healthier, happier, more grounded society. Sauna is a symbol of trust and equality, as everyone who enters is stripped down to their bare minimum — literally. The Finns seem to embrace the idea that nakedness is a great equalizer. Ninety per cent of Finns use a sauna weekly to socialize, make business deals and to relax. This includes with strangers.

Bayley Hayward, 23, spends a lot of time on the ice as a technician at the Lindsay Curling Club, where she scrapes ice layers and creates pebbled surfaces for optimal curling conditions.

Hayward doesn’t actively strive for happiness but finds herself happy most of the time by focusing on small, everyday wonders rather than major accomplishments. She emphasizes finding peace and contentment through observing nature, such as watching flowers bloom or icicles form on trees in winter, and other small daily wonders that can “stack up,” unlike infrequent personal accomplishments. “I think that was the main path to happiness for me was learning to appreciate the way that nature continues to thrive around me, regardless of what I’m doing.”

(Maybe she’s a budding Finn, with her nature focus.)

When she was 19 or 20, the ice tech struggled with self-worth issues. Naturally pessimistic and forced to confront her own identity issues, she previously had a “bleak outlook on life.” She felt trapped by societal expectations of working desk jobs until retirement. The turning point came when she learned to see herself as part of a larger ecosystem and community rather than trying to be an individual achiever.

A significant theme emerged in her early 20s around rejecting societal expectations and embracing what she calls “being a loser.” Not in a negative sense, but as letting go of the pressure to achieve greatness and instead focusing on personal contentment. She noted this philosophy helped her relationship with her father, who initially had high expectations for a university education and career success but eventually became proud of her chosen path.

Before her present state of happiness, Hayward said she experienced both chronic and situational depression. She said taking medication and therapy helped significantly but emphasized the importance of personal work alongside treatment. This included forcing herself to complete small daily tasks like brushing teeth and consciously redirecting negative thoughts to positive ones, following advice from a friend at age 15 about “training the brain like a muscle.”

These days Hayward says her greatest happiness comes from home-cooked meals, sunsets, spring flowers, gardens and cookies. Her job imbues her life with happiness as well.

Happiness from working in certain job callings is not a surprise to career researchers at Career.io. Experts say occupations make people happy when they provide a sense of purpose, autonomy, and opportunities for mastery, rather than just a paycheque. They analyzed data from more than 750,000 workers in the United States (likely similar results in Canada) and found that some occupations led in the happiness department. They used government statistics and Glassdoor.com reviews for each job and ranked the roles by average rating.

The top five happiest roles in reverse order included fitness instructors, designers, software developers, with carpenters being second happiest in their vocations — and coming out on top, real estate agents.

Ask 38-year-old Lindsay realtor Janet DiBello why realtors rank the highest on the happiness scale and she won’t hesitate with an answer. After nearly five years in the business, she says real estate is both exciting and incredibly rewarding.

“Helping people through some of their biggest moments of their lives and the flexibility is wonderful.” With family commitments, she can make them work with the help of her team and support system to maintain balance in her life.

Summer McMillan is a therapist at Lock 33 Counseling in Lindsay and explained that happiness has multiple meanings and interpretations, distinguishing between fleeting emotional states and deeper contentment or fulfillment. “It’s actually a big topic. It’s hard to nail down because when we talk about happiness, we’re not all necessarily meaning the same thing.”

McMillan explained that being gentle, encouraging, and compassionate with oneself leads to greater contentment. She also notes that the converse is true: the harsher and more demanding we are with ourselves, particularly under the unrealistic expectations society often promotes, the more difficult it can be to feel happy.

She contrasted this with motivation based on personal values, which provides healthier and more sustainable sources of fulfillment and meaning.

They say money doesn’t buy happiness. In the case of alleviating pain — perhaps it buys contentment? Someone suffering from severe dental pain without the means to see a dentist is unlikely to be happy. In that case, comfort would buy happiness, the therapist noted.

McMillan provided practical advice for improving happiness, emphasizing the importance of introspection to identify personal wants, needs, and values.

She warned against seeking self-worth through external validation, material possessions, or others’ approval, describing this as an unwinnable game where the bar constantly moves. “Just when we have accomplished this, or this person likes us or we’ve acquired this possession, oftentimes there can be a temporary kind of pseudo-sense of feeling good or feeling important.”

She notes we are then kind of back to being with ourselves and how we feel about ourselves. “Like, oh, it hasn’t changed.” Instead, she advocates for internal motivation based on personal values rather than external approval for happiness.

McMillan elaborated on the exhausting nature of seeking approval from others and how it doesn’t lead to deep satisfaction or purpose. “We end up kind of looking for our worst in the outside world in things like wealth or status or appearance.”

For practical happiness enhancement, McMillan recommends focusing on personal values to guide life decisions, maintaining physical activity, spending time in nature, and following healthy lifestyle practices. “Connection is huge.”

She notes that building connections with caring and safe people impacts happiness. “COVID was an example of how that isolation ended up negatively impacting people’s mental health, (for) people feeling good, feeling happy.”

Tichina Stoutt of Dunsford says her happiness stems from living with purpose and being content with who she has become. In her teenage years, she suffered from depression while growing up in the British Virgin Islands, specifically on Tortola. The depression wasn’t necessarily situational or chemical; she simply experienced unexplained sadness for days at a time. Family members recognized it as depression, though she was never formally diagnosed due to limited mental health resources on the island.

The 36-year-old insurance agent and financial coach said her happiness transformation began when she met her now-husband in high school. When she was 17, he invited her to a non-denominational church where she encountered teachings about “fake peace versus real peace” and “fake joy versus real joy.” What she calls a spiritual awakening continued after she married at 18 and moved to Canada in 2011, where she attended a church in Lindsay.

Living as a minority in Lindsay, she faced racism but found that her newfound peace and understanding of her identity as a Christian helped her respond with grace rather than anger.

She said she knows who she is, which helps anchor her happiness. “I recognize who I am right now. It’s daily and I wake up every morning, and I remember who I am. I repeat it to myself.”

Along with her faith, Stoutt finds service in others provides her with joy. “I love my community. I love my family. I love to serve people. I love that it’s not only giving me peace and joy, but it’s a very big reason for why I can honestly say that I’m happy with who I am and who I’ve become.”

Her commitment to service manifests in multiple ways. She serves as the chairperson for Lindsay Canada Day in her first year in this role, volunteers in her children’s schools and at various events, and hosts weekly Sunday dinners featuring Virgin Islands Caribbean food or mixed cuisines. She learned that inviting strangers over for dinner isn’t culturally acceptable in Canada, unlike her Caribbean background where such hospitality is normal. “I had to learn very quickly that you can’t just invite strangers over, because that’s weird.”

Stoutt believes people are not born with set levels of contentment. She believes happiness requires daily work and looking to something higher than themselves. She maintains a gratitude list that she reads daily and emphasizes the importance of setting goals and taking steps toward them to create a sense of progress and accomplishment.

Experts say social media can be detrimental to happiness because it encourages constant comparison. Users tend to post curated highlights of their lives, which can make others feel inadequate or unsuccessful by comparison.

Countries including Australia, Indonesia, and Turkey have banned or restricted social media use for children 16 and under, and Canada is considering such a move, too.

For Lindsay’s Jackie Toplak, social media brings happiness into her life. She posts measured photos of her family and friends, usually enjoying them- selves. The 44-year-old office administrator finds joy in her posts. “I love having a record of our adventures, because it’s fun to look back years later and reminisce about the things we did, and to see how much the kids are growing and changing.”

Toplak says she had the same friend group for many years and feels fortunate to have such a special “tribe” in her life.

Social media “likes” boost dopamine by hijacking the brain’s natural reward and social validation systems. When you receive a like, your brain’s reward registers this as a surge of social approval and connection. For Toplak, this connection brings her happiness as well.

Maybe Finland’s real lesson isn’t that happiness can be imported, but that it can be cultivated — through connection, purpose, nature, and simple daily rituals. We may never adopt sauna culture, but the Finnish example suggests happiness grows best when we make room for what truly sustains us.