Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen revealed recently that before going to sleep she mentally ticks off the things for which she is thankful. This must be a cumbersome exercise: the long-limbed beauty is the world’s highest-paid clothes horse; is married to a rich, handsome American football star ; she has two gorgeous children; features in Forbes’ annual power list; and, in her spare time, is a UN goodwill ambassador for the environment.

巴西超级名模吉赛尔邦辰(Gisele Bündchen)最近披露，每天睡觉前，她都会在心里数一数自己感恩的事情。这对她肯定是件繁重的任务：这位长腿美女是全球收入最高的“衣架子”；嫁给了一位富有、英俊的美国橄榄球明星；育有两位漂亮子女；跻身于《福布斯》(Forbes)最具影响力人物的年度榜单；抽得出空的时候还是联合国(UN)环境亲善大使。

She is obviously clued up about happiness research, too, which extols the benefits of counting one’s blessings — usually in a “gratitude journal”. This kind of ledger is bound to figure in a series of evening classes launched this week across the UK by a group called Action for Happiness. The six-week self-improvement course, endorsed by the Dalai Lama, claims to harness the science of happiness, which has charmed its way into policymaking.

她显然对有关幸福的研究也十分了解。这类研究高度赞扬感恩（通常是写在一本“感恩日志”中）的效益。在最近英国各地推出的一个晚间课程中，这种日志肯定会被提及。这一持续六周的课程由一个名为“争取幸福”(Action for Happiness)的组织推出，得到了达赖喇嘛(Dalai Lama)的认可。该课程声称运用了“幸福科学”，后者凭借其魅力，已受到政策制定圈子的注意。

Also this week, the Office for National Statistics published its geographical league table of personal wellbeing in the UK, compiled by quizzing 165,000 people on how satisfied they are with life. Fermanagh in Northern Ireland is the jolly table-topper; London is steeped in melancholy. Since the ultimate goal in life for most people is to be happy, the logic goes, governments should find ways of increasing civic contentment.

同样在最近，英国国家统计局(Office for National Statistics)发布了英国各地个人福祉排行榜。该排行榜的依据是对16.5万人的生活满意度调查。结果是北爱尔兰的弗马纳郡喜获第一，而伦敦弥漫着抑郁情绪。由于大多数人的终极目标就是幸福，合乎逻辑的结论是，政府应该想办法提高公民的满足感。

But the science of wellbeing has turned out, over the past 15 years, to be a keenly disputed field of psychology whose practitioners have struggled to elucidate the nature of nirvana, let alone put numbers to it. Meanwhile, happiness has become a central issue in public health. A 2014 study of 3,000 older people, led by Professor Andrew Steptoe at University College London, found that participants who said they enjoyed life saw a slower rate of physical decline than their curmudgeonly peers , even taking into account other factors such as income, smoking and drinking.

不过，有关福祉的科学在过去15年里成了心理学一个极具争议的领域。其从业者甚至难以阐明涅槃状态的特征，更别说对它加以量化研究了。与此同时，幸福已成为公共健康的核心问题。2014年伦敦大学学院(University College London)安德鲁斯特普托(Andrew Steptoe)教授领导开展的一项研究发现，即使把收入、吸烟和饮酒等其他方面的因素考虑在内，那些表示自己享受人生的参与调查者，生理上的衰退速度也慢于脾气不好的同龄人。

Scientists have been hunting the precise mechanism through which a positive state of mind exerts a beneficial effect on our biology. Barbara Fredrickson, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina, published a startling paper in 2013 suggesting that the genomic profile of deeply contented people differed measurably from those of others, possibly influencing function. The finding provoked publicity and then controversy; one reanalysis using Prof Fredrickson’s data failed to reach the same conclusion.

科学家一直在寻找积极心态产生有益生理影响的精确机制。2013年，美国北卡罗来纳大学(University of North Carolina)心理学教授芭芭拉弗雷德里克森(Barbara Fredrickson)曾发表一篇令人震惊的论文，提出深层次满足的人群的基因组图谱与其他人显著不同，这可能会影响免疫功能。这一发现得到了广泛报道，随即引发了争议；根据弗雷德里克森教授的数据重新开展的一项分析未能得出相同结论。

None of which should stop us from trying to discern the elements of a happy life. This is the goal of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, which combines on happiness with practical recommendations. It defines happiness as “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive wellbeing, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful and worthwhile”. Contentment stems not from material wealth, as the rich keep reminding us, but from relationships and personal development. Compassion and altruism seem central.

所有这一切都不应阻止我们努力找出幸福生活的要素。这正是美国加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)至善科学中心(Greater Good Science Center)的目标。该中心把有关幸福的研究与实用建议相结合。它对幸福的定义是“喜悦、满足或积极健康的体验，再加上人生美好、充实而有价值的感觉”。正如富裕人群一直在提醒我们的，满足感并不来自物质财富，而来自人际关系和个人发展。同情心与无私似乎是核心要素。

And this is, perhaps, the most helpful pointer furnished by science: true happiness is rarely a succession of immediate, individual pleasures, such as sex, drugs and chocolate. Indeed, many experiences deemed enriching — raising children, mastering an instrument, donating a kidney — require pain and sacrifice. Happiness appears to be linked to living a life of purpose and meaning; the ONS survey now asks residents whether their lives feel worthwhile.

而这也许正是科学提供的最有帮助的指标：真正的幸福极少是一个接一个直截了当的、个人的愉悦体验——比如性、毒品和巧克力。的确，许多被视为充实的人生体验——抚养子女、掌握一种乐器、捐赠一个肾脏——都需要痛苦和牺牲。幸福似乎与带着目标和意义生活存在关联：如今，英国国家统计局的调查会问居民是否感觉活得有价值。