The US ranks higher than China in many international happiness surveys. But the country's average happiness has not budged since the mid-1970s, the same time as real incomes for average US workers stopped growing.

Neither the most developed country nor the fastest developing one in the world has gotten more happiness from their economic development. And people who own less are seemingly more satisfied than those who own more. This doesn't look like an encouraging picture for any hardworking people. Are all our efforts only pushing us further from happiness?

Positive happiness experts will point at the European model to assure us we are not doomed. Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Iceland, Finland and other Scandinavian countries are always near the top ranks of the list of the happiest countries year after year. Thebalance between economic development and environmental protection, work and leisure time, egalitarian wealth distribution and established social safety networks in these countries seems to be the origin of their happiness.

These could be crucially important tips for both China and the US. Both nations have widening gaps between the rich and the poor, and both see increasing tensions between economic development and environmental protection.

It is a government's job to figure out a way to reach a European style equilibrium. But there must be another layer of happiness that even a perfect social system can hardly reach. The key lies in our own hearts. If you lose balance there, nothing in the outside world can rescue you.

There are a lot of ways to build up inner balance, such as religions, yoga, and mediation. But the one I like most is from Alvin Wong, a Chinese American living in Hawaii who was designated the happiest person in the US by the New York Times. The newspaper located Wong through Gallup, which has been monitoring the happiness of American people in the past three years.

Yes, he has a lot of reasons to be happy: living in such a heavenly part of the world, running his own business, having a good income and a loving family. But he also told the newspaper that his life philosophy is "If you can't laugh at yourself, life is going to be pretty terrible for you."

This might be the indispensable ingredient of any formula for happiness.

The author is a New York-based journalist. rong_xiaoqing@hotmail.com