[highpitched rewind whine] [projector humming] i grew up as a bigheaded baby in seattle, moved to nicaragua when i was three, made friends with parrots and sloths. Moved back to Washington State when i was five, learned to play the bassoon. Moved to illinois and joined the drama club, and eventually, i landed in los angeles as dunder mifflins assistant to the regional manager. Please welcome rainn wilson. Rainn wilson. Yet for all my success, my wife and son, whom i love, a nice house, people tattooing my face on their feet. [beeping, whirring] [sighs] youd think id be happier. [upbeat music] but like so many others, i struggle. To find fulfillment. Amy. To find true joy. I need to be honest with you all. Its just ive been going through a really hard time recently on a number of different levels, and ive been feeling a little bit low, a little bit less than, a little depressed and humbled and lost these days. And so ive churned through countless therapists and selfhelp books. Ive tried journaling and meditating. And i tried this, whatever i dont even know what that is. Are you happy . I am happy. Im happier than i used to be. I even founded soulpancake, a Media Company focused on lifes big questions. [staticky channel changes] and yet, life continued on autopilot. Ecchh. [staticky channel changes] happiness is out there, hiding in some of the places youd least expect. What i want to know is, which places . [nicky blitz blast off] getting too close, better pull on back what if i travel the world, exploring what makes some places happier than others . Need a onetwo. Im looking at the ways that where we are. Yeah, im acomin, im acomin affect who we are. Whoo, im acomin im acomin, yeah. Its been said that the search for happiness is the chief source of unhappiness. Im acomin, im acomin. Well, thats okay. Im already unhappy, so ive got nothing to lose. Lets go lets all blast off [birds chirping] [bells tolling] [bouncy music] for my first stop of this harebrained experiment, im visiting a place that does happiness as well as anywhere on earth. For a decade now, iceland ranks as one of the top five countries on the World Happiness report. The United States has never cracked the top ten. A lot of people hear this and wonder, iceland . As in that Island Country floating in the north atlantic, submerged in neartotal darkness and tonguenumbing cold . [wind howling] yes, that iceland. But how the hell do you measure happiness . Its complicated, but each year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world rate the quality of their lives on a scale from one to ten. Okay, so its not really that complicated. Is there any truth to this socalled science of happiness . Well, i intend to find out. Im here in icelands capital of reykjavik during the still pretty much freezing springtime, wondering what Alternative Reality ive stumbled into where [baby cooing] its a baby. Where people leave babies unattended and find joy in endless winter. How do you find happiness Against All Odds . Hi, icelandic dog. There are no strangers on this island of 370,000, roughly the population of cleveland. So when you hit up your icelandic actor friend for a favor, he happily stands in front of a Tourist Information booth and pretends he just happened to run into you. [horn honking] what . Rainn . Icelandic cultural icon, actor olafur darri lafsson say what . Hey, hows it going . Oh, good to see you, man. So you could not find a smaller car . This is the smallest they got. Okay. Yeah. Here we go. Raaah boom. Hey. Sing. No, no, thank you. Im notim all right. olafur darri lafsson is an iconic icelandic actor, and one of the most joyful people i know. Hes like a 65 viking teddy bear. Dont you guys ever watch shark week . I met him while filming the meg a few years back, and spoiler alert we both get devoured by a massive Mackerel Shark from the pliocene epic, and we wont be reprising our roles in the meg 2. Do you because i almost always get killed in everything i do. Were planning on killing you on this show, too. I hope thats okay. Absolutely. I would expect nothing less. [laughter] so whenever you come to iceland, theres one thing all of us have in common. Okay. We go to a hot springs. A hot springs. Icelanders love their nature. Around here, winter means being locked inside for months on end, so they learned not to take their surroundings for granted. Look how beautiful this is. I wanna say you get used to it, but you dont. [upbeat jazzy music] this fjord, were in a pretty massive fjord. Its called hvalfjordur, or whale fjord. You steer for a second. Right. So this is where were going, huh . Yes. Mountains up ahead. This is with darri driving. Theres his hand. Ha. Theres his meaty little hand. Rainn, are you coming back . You gonna take the wheel at some point . Um. At some point. This is fun. Its fun, though. [sea birds calling] you know, rainn, if we wanna do this the real oldschool icelandic way, we really should drop our trunks. Just two. Enormous, naked men. Yeah. Go au naturel. In a fjord . Yes. All right. Lets do it. Lets do it. Okay. Whoo here we go. [splash] oh, wow. Ooh, its a little stinky, right . Its a little stinky. Ahh. Thats the sulfur. Wow. Were in a bubbly, sulfuric, viking armpit. I look around, im like, well, i could be happy here. Yeah. Anyone could be happy here. I mean, this is theres so much beauty. Its not something you get used to. It knocks you on your feet almost every time, any time you go into nature. cause, you know, our capital city is the biggest city. It has about half the population. But you can be in the middle of nowhere in, like, 20 minutes. Yeah. Are those birds gonna attack us . I think they like they dont like us being here. Intruders intruders turning into a hitchcock movie fast. This closeness to nature. When i talk about nature, i mean the whole thing. Like, the closest to the weather. The weather will go from sunny to snowing to sunny again to raining in one hour. You know, you never know whats going to happen. [thunder rumbles] this is a very, very alive, as a country. Well, i love you saying, like, the land is alive, cause it really does feel that way. There are hot springs. There are geysers. There are waterfalls everywhere. Theres glaciers. Its chockablock with glaciers. Yeah. And active volcanoes. Like, this is not a kind of a mellow landscape. Its changing, evolving, moving. And i kind of like that. Its a place you have to respect. But if you treat it with respect, it is so rewarding. Theres a concept in positive psychology, the study of human happiness, that explains the Joy Icelanders derive from the nature around them. Its known as the biophilia hypothesis. It says that on a genetic level, human beings are happiest when we feel most connected to other living things. Its why we feel that sense of calm watching a sunset. Or in my case. Scratching the bellies of amy and snorty, my potbellied pigs. Its a pig life. Icelanders understand this, and the respect for nature, its beauty, its volatility, it forms the very foundation of how they view the world around them. So we have a saying every icelander knows, which is [speaking icelandic], which is basically, ah, itll work out. And that comes with, i think, having an environment that is constantly changing. And i think that doesnt only come with how you deal with nature, but it becomes a part of your entire life. If you decided that, you know, were going to tomorrow were gonna. Get hay. You know, were gonna go and take hay and put in the barn. But tomorrow, its gonna be raining. You just have to go and do Something Else. Mmhmm, mmhmm. And i think in iceland, thats what we do very often. Mmhmm. And i kind of love that adaptability. You talked about the changeability of the weather. Since we started our conversation, there is an icy, icy wind coming from the north. [whistling] adaptability. Its an important first lesson as i begin my journey. To understand happiness, ill need to embrace what comes my way. Hey aah our heritage is ingrained in our skin. And even when we metamorphosize into our new evolved form, we carry that spirit with us. Because you can take alfa romeo out of italy. But you best believe, you cant take the italy out of an alfa romeo. Meet the team. Behind the team. The coach. The manager. And the snack dad. All using chase to keep up with their finances. The coach helps save goals here, because she saved for soccer camp there. Anddd check this out. The manager deposited a check. Magic. And the snack dad . Hes getting paid back. Orange slicesss. Because this team all has chase. Smart bankers. 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Its a term in mathematics used to describe systems that actually thrive when exposed to volatility and disorder. Icelanders are the epitome of antifragile. My favorite Icelandic Expression is probably [speaking icelandic]. [repeating same expression] [repeating same expression] it means, like, it will work itself out. [Icelandic Expression] even on the verge of becoming roadkill, icelanders insist upon their Unofficial National motto that everything will work itself out. In the last month, didnt have a job, but i knew it would just work out. And now i have a job. So. It just works out. Im struggling to buy into all of this because i am wired to believe that the worst is always lurking around the corner. Why do i think the world thinks iceland is one of the happiest oh, god. [laughs] thats a heavy question. I can imagine that people think that we are very happy here, which we are, i assume. Its all about good marketing, i think. We just make our own happiness. Magic mushrooms. [chuckling] definitely do their part. But icelanders have no hallucinations of grandeur. In a country where chaos is always one volcanic eruption away, plotting and planning to control anything in life is so obviously a joke. This is a roman helmet, right . Even the politicians are in on it. Isnt it . Yeah. I dont know if were gonna be able to take you very seriously in this interview. No . While wearing that. Thats so ridiculous. You dont think i should be wearing it . Jon gnarr. Jon gnarr. Jon gnarr. The worlds coolest mayor. His Campaign Began as a joke. Some thought it was a joke, but at least onethird of the reykjavik voters thought differently. [triumphant chords] jon gnarr is a cab driver turned playwright turned comedian, who, in 2009, successfully ran for mayor of reykjavik. Among his platforms was his refusal to form a Coalition Government with anyone who hadnt seen hbos the wire. Inspired by a philosophy of nonsense, gnarr promised to get them a polar bear for the citys zoo. I actually think we need more humor in all aspects of life. [triumphant music] [laughing] here we go. Allow me. So, who better to don my viking regalia alongside. You prefer a shorter axe . Oh, an axe, please. Oh, yep. While exploring 1,100 years of ridiculously graphic icelandic bloodshed . [dramatic music] wow. Yeah, so this is all pretty amazing. The saga museum is a lot like its a small world. But instead of animatronic children singing in harmony. [quirky music] its a bunch of murderous Vikings Hacking off each others limbs. Oh, heres another guy chopping another guy. Im going to just stay here. Oh, thats beautiful. When some tourists come by, im gonna scare the shit out of them. Did the early settlers who came from norway, i assume and british isles. Why did they come here . Yeah. Why . Nobody knows. There is no word for history in icelandic. Instead, they have sagas, which just means stories. So the History Of Iceland is just a hodgepodge of mythologies, tall tales, and some actual history thrown in. Aaaah what is she doing with her boob . Im not sure. Finding herself cornered, she took up his sword, opened her tunic, and placed the blade against her naked breasts. Yes. The strange but bold gesture it is strange and bold. Strange, but bold. Put the natives to flight. They were like, no, dont cut off your boob aah dontdont do it dont do it. Wow. What does this saganess reveal about the modern icelandic character . Its everything that is icelandic. To be able to survive here and live here and find happiness here, you have to be quite creative and inventive. Hmm. Yeah. Come up with stories, something to entertain yourself and others. One thing you have to realize about iceland it is kind of like a cult. Facts have never been that popular here, but fiction. So we come up with alternative realities. Otherwise, you lose your mind. I dont know if ive mentioned this, but its really hard to live here. In the 1400s, iceland was twice hit by the plague, each time killing half of the countrys entire population. In 1783, the volcano laki erupted for eight straight months, destroying most of the countrys crops and killing nearly a quarter of the people here. For centuries, this constant turmoil meant that reinvention was the only means of survival in iceland. Farmers had to learn how to fish. Fishermen had to learn how to farm. And this legacy continues today, in a slightly different form. Well, this is fascinating, because you are kind of the poster child for that adaptiveness. Yes. You started as a standup comic, and then kind of almost as a joke ran for mayor of reykjavik. Yeah. And served four years as mayor of this world capital. Now, were you playing a character when you were running for mayor, or were you really yourself . In the beginning, i was playing a character. A fictional version of yourself. A saga version of yourself. Exactly. But it seems like a lot of icelanders have kind of multiple reinventions of themselves and multiple realities. Yeah. Someone can be a stockbroker and also be in a heavy metal band. Yeah, and publish poetry. Mm. Because in america, youre really. Culturally, people want you to be on one track. They kinda wanna know what you are. Oh, youre an insurance salesman. Yes. Exactly. Youre a schoolteacher. And people. Its pretty rare for people to break out of that kind of track they get kind of set into. To be able to survive here. Mm. You have to be adaptive because the country is quite unforgiving. I have sometimes compared to being raised by an alcoholic mother. Its like, shes beautiful, you know . But you never know. [laughter] whats gonna happen. Yeah. Once upon a time in iceland, reinvention was a necessity. Today, though, its evolved into trying your hand at whatever the hell you feel like because no one is judging you for it. Failure doesnt carry a stigma in iceland because failure has always been a fact of life here. This guy was a catholic. Oh. It makes me realize id be nowhere if not for my own failures. Crap plays an Important Role in my line of work. Its fertilizer. It allows the good stuff to grow. And failing is the only way to know for sure if youd be happiest as an actor, as a cab driver. I think its time for your beheading. Please. Or as the mayor of a european capital. Im gonna cut off my breast oh, no dont do that. Aha run away [laughing] detect this living with hiv, i learned i can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. Thats why i switched to dovato. Dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. No other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. Detect this most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. 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So researchers can help life was the moment they walked away from it. daughter mom mom oh, thank goodness. And thats why our family will only