A lot of discussion around happiness comes down to the definition of happiness. We've created our own working definition of happiness that helps to guide our work and efforts.
Happiness is...
...an emergent feeling that indicates when our needs in terms of survival have been met.
...a balanced flow of pleasure and purpose over time.
...a feeling of peace, calm, contentment.
...an outcome of our daily behaviors, genetics, and context.
The first idea is that happiness is actually an evolved sensation, that helps to let us know when we are doing things right in terms of survival.
The next idea is that there are different types of happiness — generally two important types: pleasure and purpose. Pleasure is that feeling from delicious food or exercise or fun time with friends. Purpose is another kind of happiness, that comes as we feel our work or lives or relationships are meaningful.
Happiness most often comes from a stoic feeling of peace and calm and contentment. Very often the Scandinavian countries are measured as some of the happiest in the world, and this kind of simple contentment with life is what is driving this.
Finally we consider how this feeling comes to us: through our thoughts and behaviours (things we can directly control), our genetics, and our context (where we live, who we associate with). We work very hard to understand and design for all aspects of someone's life driving their happiness, including context.