Sustainable Happiness, Well-Being, and Mindfulness in the Workplace

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015, aspires to develop global peace and prosperity for current and future generations. At the core of this plan are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that require countries and stakeholders to work in collaborative partnerships to achieve this transformational vision (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/). This plan of action fundamentally challenges our existing ideas of growth and development that, while offering many benefits, have also generated negative side effects that increasingly challenge individual quality of life and societal level sustainability. In order for us to make authentic progress toward social and environmental sustainability, our prevailing mind-set and understanding of prosperity requires a shift to accommodate critical measures such as well-being and happiness (Eisler 2007). Increasingly, global issues, including the “wicked problems” of sustainability (Brown, Harris, Russell 2010), are imposing pressure on the human mind, leading to abrupt, fragmented, and often mindless actions impacting the quality of human interactions and, in turn, hindering the solutions to these problems. Mindfulness practice, where mindfulness is defined as the act of focusing on the present moment without judgment, without reaction, and with an open heart (Kabat-Zinn 2015), has implications for both individual and societal flourishing (O’Brien 2012). This chapter provides an overview of a decade of literature that has explored linkages between mindfulness practice, subjective well-being, decision-making, integrative thinking, sustainability, and sustainable happiness from the individual to the societal level. Recommendations are made for future research that will help us to better understand the impact that mindfulness practice can have on sustainable happiness and global well-being.