HAPPINESS IS MEDICINE! Why Joy, Forgiveness and Good Relationships Matter

By Michael Jjingo

We spend enormous amounts of money trying to add years to our lives, yet sometimes forget to add life to our years. We watch our diets, exercise, check our blood pressure and take medication, but there is another dimension of health we sometimes underestimate: happiness.

Happiness is not a cure for serious diseases and it should never replace medical treatment. But science increasingly recognises the powerful relationship between emotional well-being, stress, relationships and physical health. As Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz remind us in The Good Life, good relationships are among the strongest foundations of a healthy and fulfilling life.

Build a happiness schedule. We schedule meetings, medical appointments, budgets and business reviews. Why not schedule happiness? Put laughter on the calendar. Schedule time with family and friends. Take a walk, listen to music, read, travel, pray, exercise, watch something genuinely funny, sit quietly, have a meal without checking the phone.

And yes, allow yourself some private laughter, those moments when you remember something funny, laugh at yourself, dance when nobody is watching or simply enjoy your own company. Happiness should not always be an accidental by-product of life. It should be deliberately designed into it.

Remove the unnecessary emotional baggage. Some people bring sunshine into our lives; others bring permanent weather warnings. Learning to distance ourselves from toxic relationships, destructive environments and relentless negativity is an act of self-care. We cannot control everyone around us, but we can decide how much access they have to our pace.

Then there are grudges. Anger is sometimes like drinking poison and hoping somebody else becomes sick. Forgiveness does not excuse wrongdoing; it frees us from continuously carrying its emotional weight, and puts us in a better place.

Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score reminds us of the profound connection between psychological experiences and the body. What continually troubles the mind can eventually affect the body, and certainly crystallizing into health issues.

Celebrate the journey. We are often so focused on the next target that we forget to celebrate the one we have just achieved. Celebrate the graduation. The promotion. The successful project. The new customer. The recovery. The anniversary. The small personal victory nobody else noticed. Celebration is not vanity. It is gratitude for progress.

And when things go wrong, resist turning failure into a permanent identity. A failed project is not a failed person. A rejection is not a verdict on your future. Ask instead: “What is this teaching me?” Every disappointment can carry information. Every mistake can improve judgement. Every setback can strengthen resilience.

Happiness is also ESG. Perhaps we can look at happiness through an unusual ESG lens: E – Enjoy your environment: notice nature, beauty, music, food, travel and the simple pleasures around you. S – Strengthen social connections: family, friendship, community, service and belonging. G – Govern yourself: manage anger, stress, time, money, habits and relationships with wisdom.

Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage makes a compelling case that happiness is not merely the reward for success; it can actually improve resilience, creativity, engagement and performance.

That is an important lesson for organisations too. A healthy workplace is not simply one with good salaries and policies. It is one where people feel respected, trusted, recognised and able to laugh.

Enjoy life, but intelligently. Governments are increasingly recognising wellbeing as part of development. The UAE created a Minister of State for Happiness and Wellbeing, while Bhutan has famously promoted Gross National Happiness. Japan has pursued policies around wellbeing and social connection.

Even Uganda continues to debate how much freedom citizens should have to enjoy themselves, including the interesting national conversation around alcohol and bar opening hours. But enjoyment is not the same as excess. Happiness should not depend on a bottle, a bank balance or constant entertainment.

In conclusion, the deeper prescription is simpler: Laugh more. Forgive faster. Celebrate often. Love deeply. Walk away from toxicity. Learn from failure. Spend time with people who matter. Protect your peace. Make time for yourself. And deliberately schedule moments of joy. Because the ultimate purpose of health is not merely to live longer. It is to live better, and to have something worth smiling about while we are here.

The writer is the General Manager, Commercial Banking at Centenary Bank