“Happiness is dancing and playing with my friends, that’s what I write in my diary,” says Katerina. She is only 12 years old, lives in Ioannina and the happiest moment of her life so far was when she graduated from primary school and danced in hundreds of colourful confetti with her classmates. I wonder if that’s enough? Psychologists, scientists, sociologists and philosophers have spent years investigating the secrets and parameters of this so fragile state of human existence.

Most of us, of course, who do not hold the aforementioned titles – neither of experts nor of Katerina anymore – often think that being happy is consistent with success, relationships or money. We hope that happiness is something we will be able to attain when we reach an inner destination, when we have the ideal car, house, spouse, job. Our very culture pushes us towards it. To be happier, healthier, better than others, smarter, more attractive, more popular and productive. “The world keeps telling us that the path to a happy life is to have more, to be more,” as author Mark Manson says.

What does happiness mean to you?

15 distinguished Greeks answer the question and reveal their little secret weapons in the hunt for inner peace:

Themis Bazaka: Actress

“Happiness is like a release from your body, an air that fills your lungs, a phrase you read in a book, a beautiful lovemaking encounter. The happiest moment of my life, apart from the birth of my daughter, was an afternoon on a small harbour in Paros. Suddenly I felt a tremendous peace, as if I had merged with the universe, as if everything made sense. It lasted 2 seconds and I felt it like a quarter of a second.”

Amanda Michalopoulou: Author

“In my life, moments of happiness are like a cradle that lifts me into the sky as the trees give way beneath my feet, two bodies fully touching, the moment the nurse touches my daughter to my chest for the first time, the midday when I hold my new book, The Long Journey of the One Within the Other, in my hands.”

Stiv Vranakis: Executive Creative Director, founder of Catalytic

“Happiness for me is a sum of things. My kids gathered around the couch as I tell them stories. My dogs sleeping under the covers of my bed, my crazy ideas that manage to capture the imagination of others. These things make me happy.”

Athenagoras Kostakos: Chef

“Happiness for me is when I look back on my career and the journey I have taken and feel proud. Also, probably one of the happiest moments of my life is when I opened my first Greek restaurant in America, Lyra.”

Dmitris Karambatakis: Architect, co-founder of K-studio

“You can feel happiness in the small everyday things. Walking from work to home and seeing the Acropolis on a corner. In a surprise to a friend, in a hug. A moment that comes naturally and spontaneously.”

Efi Papatheodorou: Actress

“Happiness? But the word says it. It’s the meaning of good luck. So I was very lucky in my life, I must say. I had great parents, sisters and very good friends. I think I’m a happy person by the standards of the time. I get so much love from people.”

Pavlina Voulgaraki: Singer and songwriter, lyricist

“Happiness for me is to feel a moment of calmness in the chaos, to look the darkness in the eye and resist despair, to help those around me. A quiet moment with friends or just looking at the sky and remembering that you are breathing, that you are alive.”

Yannis Panagopoulos: Actor – director

“Once I would have called happiness a great journey or an extraordinary event in my life. As I grew older I began to appreciate all those small and everyday things. One afternoon, after a rehearsal at the National Theater, with my Vespa, smelling blossoming water lilies and watching immigrant children playing ball and thinking that thankfully there is still room for goodness in the world around us.”

Vassilis Zoulias: Fashion Designer

“Happiness for me is all the small insignificant moments: a sunset, a calm afternoon at the sea, a smile or even a simple touch of two hands on a summer night in an old summer cinema with popcorn.”

Lukas Hapsis: Photographer

“Happiness is different for everyone, it is not a permanent state. There are only happy moments and special moments. For an Olympiakos fan, for example, happiness is for his team to win the Cup. For me, it’s the blessing I feel when I do what I love every day. Every click.”

Christina Kontova: Fashion Design

“Happiness is having free time, sleeping well at night and watching my daughter grow up beautifully. The happiest moment of my life was when I got on the plane to return from Uganda with my daughter after the adoption process was complete and we were on our way back home together.”

Hector Botrini: Chef and businessman

“Happiness is a state of completeness and inner peace, an overall sense of meaning and spirituality that is born when you truly live. It’s all about being okay with yourself, accepting you in your lights and darknesses. For me personally, it’s enough to have my health, my people and to do what I love.”

Panos Dimakis: Author, public speaker

“Happiness… I don’t know if it’s something tangible, something you can hold in your hands forever. I believe in small moments of joy that all together make up happiness like little stones.”

Argyro Caparou: Performer, music teacher

“Happiness is good luck. I measure it in many moments, such as the joy I got when my nephews were born or when I was waiting to meet my man at the port of Piraeus. When we met and embraced it was as if everything around us was extinguished. It was metaphysical, a powerful moment of happiness that I will never forget.”

Constantine Sofikitis: Photographer

“Reflexively, I am reminded of Kazantzakis’ quote that happiness is living all your miseries. So for me it is to be able to handle all situations with calm, with balance. My happiest moment is in Ikaria, in my conversations on a beach with the great writer Ioannis Tsatsaris. They filled me with tremendous energy and joy.”

The Pursuit of Happiness

TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms—or should we say, social disconnection platforms—have addicted us to a relentless algorithm of self-improvement and comparison. “These are the five habits to boost your serotonin (aka the happiness hormone),” “Check out the ultimate spring outfit,” “Kim Kardashian wore the season’s most beautiful dress,” “Do these exercises to reach your goals.”

From rappers flaunting their wealth to wannabe influencers documenting every minute of where they went, what they bought, and what they ate, we’re constantly bombarded with messages urging us to care about more and more things that supposedly bring us closer to happiness. But what if happiness isn’t something to chase down and possess, but something we can create with what we already have?

Professor Pavlos Sakkas, emeritus professor of Psychiatry at the University of Athens, jokes: “If only our brain were a soup, and we could just add salt and pepper to make it how we want.” He adds, “The truth is, as scientists, we only understand about 1/20 of what’s actually happening inside our brain—so we can’t really train it to be happier.”

Along similar lines, Mr. Theodoros Vasileiadis, MSc psychologist and psychotherapist, explains there’s no scientifically proven formula for happiness. “Happiness isn’t a pill we can hand out to everyone,” he says, noting that happiness is a personal matter and cannot exist without authenticity. “You can fake it for others, especially on social media, but not for yourself. As the late Malvina Karali once said, ‘I deeply suspect those who advertise their happiness,’ and she wasn’t wrong,” he adds.

Achievement, Luck, or Choice?

So what is this complex state we call happiness? Since ancient times, Greeks have seen it as a matter of circumstance, the English link it to events (happiness/happen), and the naturally more austere Germans see it as an achievement (glück/gelingen). Over the centuries, happiness has taken on many meanings, but today, perhaps, it’s more specific. Professor George Papadopoulos, emeritus at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who teaches and researches brain structure, explains in a lecture that “our shared experience tells us happiness is a fleeting, indefinable, subjective human state.”

And the reason it’s fleeting is simple. It’s all because of “a small almond,” as Professor Sakkas puts it—referring to the brain’s amygdala, which, when stimulated, gives us a feeling of well-being. But no matter how intense an external stimulus is, it can’t keep our happiness levels high for long. Why? According to Professor Papadopoulos, it’s because the very idea of lasting, absolute pleasure contradicts a fundamental neurobiological principle: hedonic adaptation. This principle explains why we gradually become numb to our own sweat, scent, the weight of our glasses, political stagnation, societal brutality—even happiness itself. In short, we’re not biologically built to experience sustained happiness.

The Key to Happiness

So what does this mean? Are we hardwired to live a joyless life? The answer is no—even if we live in a country like Greece, which ranks 64th out of 143 in the UN’s World Happiness Report. Sometimes all it takes is a slight shift in perspective. “A brake,” as Professor Sakkas puts it. In other words, developing a critical mindset about what we see. “We search for the philosopher’s stone of joy and happiness, like medieval alchemists, and in doing so we fail to relax and notice the happy moments happening around us,” he explains.

For every pandemic, war, famine, car we don’t own, fancy restaurant we can’t afford, and luxury jewelry that never touches our skin, there are hundreds of joyful moments. A moment of calm on a mountain, a phone call from a beloved friend, a ray of sunshine, a beach sunset. This, it seems, is the key to happiness: not focusing on having more, but valuing the little things—the true, the meaningful, the present.

Greeks: From Survival to Zen-like Calm

Back in 1926, in an issue of the magazine Bouquet, the poet Kostis Palamas published his poem Happiness: “Are you hidden in hell, paradise, the world or the wilderness, a palace or a shack—tell me, happiness, where do you live?” he wonders in the fifth stanza, only to find it a few lines later in the simplicity of companionship. In real life, happiness was never that easy. From survival happiness to carefree living, the core was always economic security.

“Happiness has timeless characteristics—it’s just that today, we can’t find them because the economic conditions don’t allow it,” says Dimitris Soudias, sociologist and researcher at the Department of Political Science at the University of Kassel, Germany. “The vision of happiness under capitalism hasn’t changed from the post-junta period until now. But after the crisis, the promise that hard work and education would lead to middle-class status and happiness disappeared.” According to Soudias, the 2008 crisis was a turning point in redefining what happiness means.

The study “The State of Greek Happiness” (Labor Institute of GSEE, 2022) shows that the feeling of well-being doesn’t depend only on economic growth and material goods—it’s also influenced by sociopolitical factors like state policy, work conditions, health, a sense of control in life, stress management, and optimism.

Milestones

• 1920s–1930s: Hope for a new life and upward mobility. Refugees from Asia Minor seek a fresh start, while rural Greece struggles. Urban migration feels like a promise of happiness—until it’s not.
• 1940s: The struggle for food and survival. War, occupation, hunger, disease, and destitution. For most Greeks, happiness means a warm meal and waking up alive the next day.
• 1950s–1960s: Heading abroad for a better life. Economic development brings hope of improved living standards. People chase happiness in cities and overseas. By the 1960s, over 1 million Greeks had emigrated.
• 1970s–1980s: From political transition to mass consumption. The economy begins to grow, aided by foreign support. Society starts demanding more, and consumerism, xenophilia, and prosperity become the new goals.
• 1990s–2000s: Comfort and the illusion of abundance. Greece joins the Eurozone, and prosperity rests on loans and EU subsidies. Happiness becomes synonymous with fun, ownership, money, nightlife, and travel.
• 2010–present: From crisis to inner balance. The financial crisis and then the pandemic shake things up. Happiness shifts away from material wealth and toward human connection, mental resilience, and self-awareness.