Coming back from a short trip to the Philippines was a revealing truth about us Filipinos who have been living abroad, far away from the embrace of our Mother Country.

The Filipinos, hardened by a series of colonial occupations by the Spaniards for more than 300 years, briefly by the Americans and the Japanese, and most recently, by their own Queen Gloria, find themselves always smiling.  Have you noticed that even in the pangs of calamities---Ondoy & Pepeng, and the erupting Mayon Volcano--they manage to smile, even sing and dance?

This country of smiling people has given us a chance to reflect on how well-balanced our mother country and our people are. They seem to be most contented regardless of their social status, and they tend to express their emotions outwardly. Could it be because of the traits inculcated in them such as, the freedom to choose how to live one’s life, the encouragement of gender equality, the tolerance towards the foreigners, and being religious people?

Achieving the right balance is probably what most sets the country apart. We can attribute the prevailing attitude to something less tangible, our sentiment that involves a strong family ties, or maybe it’s a combination of relaxing, eating, drinking, partying, and most importantly, spending quality time with the family.

Whatever the reason(s) for the Philippines’ apparent happiness, they are being quite right.  Economic strength and social support aside, there is something in the blood of the country that other countries are missing, which our neighboring Asian countries love us for it, but they simply can’t get it.

The brains of outgoing people react more positively to happy faces than those of shy individuals.  It doesn’t matter whether you are shy or outgoing, the brains react the same way to something scary, call ut a universal human trait of self-preservation.  Some researchers have discovered that people’s brains are more likely to react to something positive, such as showing happy faces (if they are upbeat and outgoing, rather than serious and shy). These researchers try to understand what people have in common and what make everyone unique. They all agree that personality is one big thing that makes us different from each other. Regardless of whether you’re outgoing or shy, worried or extra-relaxed about life, probably the survival aspect of responding quickly to fearful situations is pretty much the same for everyone.

In our recent travel to the Philippines, we found that the fundamental reason for Pinoy’s happiness is their feeling of solidarity with one another or camaraderie amongs themselves.  Once you feel no solidarity, you will feel unhappy, even if you have everything (house, food, clothing, water, etc.), the essential things to prolong life.       
As human beings, we have economic specialization where our jobs are the the component of a bigger product or service, and thus our needs are provided for it we have the means for such. Without solidarity within the workplace, just doing our job only with the prospect of making money, we become less involved in our own work and our well-being. The reason perhaps why many people in America are suffering from depression, as there is a lack of meaning in their lives.      

If you think people should be happy simply because they have food and shelter, then you’re dead wrong.  Solidarity is the key to happiness, as you can find in the Filipino people who can smile from the heart as they feel no pain in their poverty---together and solid in facing poverty in their everyday lives.