Happiness grows with flowers

Flowers are necessary item in our lives. Just because flowers are so common, we may have forgotten how precious they are. I grew up in the countryside, where wild flowers were abundant, and I cannot forget the spectacular scenery of beautiful seasonal flowers and plants.

On the ground floor of the Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation Center where I work, some 20 orchids and foliage plants are displayed with price tags under 50,000 won ($41), and they garner surprising interests and responses. Visitors ask if they could be purchased at the price, where and how.

Flowers and plants are used as interior decoration in offices, cafes, hotels and entrances. Cactus, rubber tree and aloe plants are known to reduce electromagnetic waves and provide psychological and emotional comfort. Plants also help people think and remember better and have horticultural therapeutic effects.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, annual spending on flowers per person is 14,000 won, while Japanese people spend about 100,000 won per person a year. Developed European nations like Switzerland, Norway and the Netherlands spend 110,000 to 160,000 won on flowers annually per person, about ten times more than Koreans. They treasure and enjoy the pleasure of having flowers in daily lives.

The 2016 World Happiness Index ranks Switzerland at second place among 157 countries, Norway at fourth and the Netherlands at the seventh. I personally think that flowers and happiness have close correlation. It is not coincidence. I recommend readers to live alongside flowers and plants. Having flowers close could allow you to appreciate their beauty and take a break from one’s busy life to find the source of happiness. How about enhancing the happiness index for yourself and your family by stopping at a flower shop on the weekend or after work to buy the first flower or plant you fall in love with?