The other night, while watching the news, I concluded that there was a lot of discontent around the world. It has become evident that those days when we went to bed with a happy anecdote from the newsreader had disappeared amid worldwide conflicts. People show their anger, disillusion, and unhappiness in many different ways, sometimes reaching the limits of obsession and incomprehensible behaviour.

As I pondered this, my mind drifted back to when I was preparing a talk about Colombia, a country in the northern part of South America, for the Otter Valley Rotary. I was struck by the fact that Colombia, a nation often depicted in the media as a place of poverty, violence, and drug trafficking, ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world in several polls, including Gallup International. This stark contrast to the global discontent I had just witnessed on the news sparked my curiosity. How could a country, often portrayed in the media as a place of poverty, violence, and drug trafficking, be so remarkably happy against the Nordic countries that have ruled the world happiness rankings since the first World Happiness Report came out in 2012?

My investigation into Colombia's happiness led me to a surprising answer that shed a whole new light on the concept of happiness. Despite a long list of violent turbulence, the Colombians have managed to remain happy. Their resilience and their ability to find joy in the midst of adversity are truly inspiring.

Colombians have achieved high levels of happiness through their unwavering optimism, resistance capacity, being people of incomparable stature, exceptional pride in their country and love for music and dance. Their music, a vibrant mix of Spanish, European, Afro and Latin Caribbean influences, and their passion for salsa, a popular egalitarian dance, are not just forms of entertainment. They are powerful tools that shape their happiness, infusing it with the vibrancy and energy of their culture. Is this shared love for music and dance a unifying force, just as sports do, that added to optimism about the future, being friendly and joyful, and valuing what you have, connect us all in the pursuit of happiness?

I am explaining happiness from my point of view, but what do the experts say? One key player in this field is the World Happiness Report, a comprehensive study that relies on data from the Gallup World Poll. This report routinely ranks wealthy Nordic countries as the happiest, primarily based on people's responses to the life evaluation questions known as 'Cantril's Ladder.' Apart from higher incomes, Nordic countries also rank high on other factors that the World Happiness Report recognises with well-being: freedom, trust in the government, long life expectancy, social support, and generosity.

In addition to the above, the Gallup World Poll presents a series of "yesterday" questions regarding experiencing specific positive and negative emotions during the previous day: smiling and laughter, respect, enjoyment, worry, sadness and anger.

Suppose you equate happiness with high levels of positive daily experiences and emotions. In that case, it should not surprise us that in 2017, Colombia and many Latin American countries ranked highest in Gallup's "positive experience index". The only Nordic country to make the cut was Iceland, at number 8. So, which is the more accurate assessment of happiness?

Still, I don't have the answer; I only know that happiness is within the individual. While what makes Colombians happy is being able to dance salsa in the kitchen while they cook, for Nordic people, it might be cuddling in front of a roaring fire with a glass of red wine and a good book. Could I conclude that happiness is recognising our differences and the right for individuals to be themselves, avoiding imposing our preferences on them? This is the essence of respect, a powerful tool in acknowledging and embracing the diversity of happiness and the need for tolerance and acceptance.