"Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." Aristotle.

I have a portfolio at work that requires an attitude towards life and people in particular. I am not about to change my name to "happy", but it does start to get complicated when people ask what department I am in and I have to reply "happiness" or when the agenda for team meeting asks for the happiness report. It could read something like this...

"Many people have been involved in making the daily lives of the residents much happier. The craft club got off to a roaring start with a breakfast at the centre. All the residents who are getting ready to make items for sale at the Christmas markets were involved. A Bingo morning was run by volunteers with lots of spot prizes and was enjoyed by many of the residents and this resulted in a games morning being set up with card games and board games.

The Rugby World Cup opening ceremony and all the Springbok pool games were shown on a big screen at the centre and hot dogs and tea and coffee were served."

So with that in mind how do residents in a setting for those who are in their older years go about pursuing happiness? I am of the opinion that those who have a reason to get up in the mornings and have regular contact with others in their house or community enjoy a happier life than those who are secluded or hidden away from sight. The beauty of independent living in a community is that life is far more extensive than the confines of the room or house but includes trips to the library or the clinic or just to have tea and play a few games of cards with music in the background at the community centre.

In hindsight I have never been happier as I am now working with a human attitude as an objective as opposed to those targets that are financially driven or related to statistics. These do play a role in reporting in order to ascertain whether the programme is having an effect and maybe sometime soon I will come across a measurement tool to assess happiness.