Happiness is a relationship between individual and environment. Environment consists of two components – conditions of your life and voluntary or intentional activities you do. However, it has been found out that life circumstances have a weaker relationship to happiness and this is proven to be true as from the article ‘Dr Tan Lai Yong: ‘Wandering Saint’ of Singapore’, despite Dr Tan having no home to his name, no car, only a pair of jeans, hand-me-down checked shirts and lunch is often a loaf of plain bread, he is happy. Thus if one basic health and daily living needs are met, life circumstances do not offer much explanation for why some people are happier than the other. This is like what Dr Tan had say in the article, ‘we just need our daily bread and to learn the value of humility’.

In addition, in the article, Dr Tan also do mention about having a meaningful social relationship. Social relationship is a life condition that has an adverse impact on individual happiness. Without social relationship, there will only be loneliness. In Singapore, he observe that Singaporean kids don’t play, therefore, to encourage social relationship, Dr Tan started the father-and-son football games with the intention to encourage more father to play with their kids, building the father-son relationship rather than just focusing on their academic. Besides that, Dr Tan would also organize weekly outing for the foreign worker.

As for voluntary or intentional activities, work is the most important elements as most of our time is dedicated to our work. However, to most people, work is either a job where the primary drive is money or as a career where they pursued for advancement and promotion. However, money only contributes little to the happiness for those who have already achieved some ‘average’ level of income relative to the others in their society. According to several studies by conducted Diener and Biswas-Diener, it showed that there is no effect of increase income on well-being and interestingly, they found that increased happiness are instead being associated with decrease income.

Therefore, if one see their work as either a job or career, their happiness is least likely to be maximized. Instead, ones will be able to maximize their happiness if they pursue their calling in life where they finds joy in whatever they do. Just like Dr Tan, to him work is a calling. Thus, he is able to just move to rural Yunnan, China together with his family just to fulfill his calling where he bring healing and joy to the community.

In conclusion, to Dr Tan Lai Yong, happiness is all about the simplest thing in life.