So are you happy, Seattle?

The dead of winter, in Seattle, during tough economic days doesn't seem the time or place to be poking around in people's psyches.

You may as well sit down for lunch at a nursing home and ask, "How's the food?" You're gonna get an earful.

But Sustainable Seattle Executive Director Laura Musikanski thinks it's "a great time" to ask people how happy they are.

"We're in a recovery phase," she told me the other day. "When you've hit rock bottom and you're ready to head back up, it's a great time to think, 'Well, maybe we'll do something different.' "

So the nonprofit is trying to gauge the smiles on our faces with The Seattle Area Happiness Initiative, which Musikanski says is the first such effort in the country.

That something like this is starting in Seattle, of all places, thrills me to no end.

Truly, when was the last time anyone asked us if we were happy? They want to know how many miles we commute and how much we compost and whether our lives are carbon neutral — all guilt-inducing exercises. But no one asks if our lives are worth living.

It all started in Bhutan, where in 1972 the king declared that gross national happiness was more important than the gross domestic product. (In truth, Bhutan doesn't have the best record at achieving its goal — especially for some minority groups forced out in recent years.)

Nonetheless, the idea of happiness as a governmental goal caught hold, and led to a happy confluence of events.

In 2009, the National Happiness Conference in Brazil invited Seattleite John de Graaf, of the national nonprofit Take Back Your Time, to speak about work and life balance.

When de Graaf returned home, he ran into Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin at a party. He told Conlin about the conference and how the city of Victoria had seized upon the idea and conducted a survey created by Vancouver Island scientist Michael Pennock.

Conlin had Pennock present the project to the Seattle City Council last April.

At about the same time, de Graaf held an informational session about the happiness initiative at Sustainable Seattle, which decided to focus on it. It partnered with de Graaf and put Pennock's survey on its site at www.sustainableseattle.org.

It will stay for as long as the nonprofit has the funds to keep the project going.

The survey asks questions in nine domains, or areas, including psychological well-being, physical health and social connection.

The responses will be analyzed by a pollster this spring.

Musikanski and de Graaf hope city leaders will use the results to shape policy and programs, and allocate resources.

For example, if responders indicate they think Seattle is a dangerous place, but statistics tell us that crime rates are going down, "then maybe city leaders need to get more information out about crime rates," Musikanski said, "and what it means to have a safe street."

On Tuesday, the day the survey went online, 700 people took it. It took me about 20 minutes, and it's a bit of a squirmfest. (Doesn't help that I'm at midlife and not drinking this month.)

Consider this statement: "If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing." Strongly agree? Slightly agree? Disagree?" (I wish I could have checked "Still thinking.")

Or how about: "So far I have gotten the important things I want in life?" (Uhhhh ... )

There's also a place to gauge whether you have the support of friends and family, and feel part of a community. The good stuff Seattle is known for.

I didn't do badly. My Satisfaction with Life Score was 73; the median, so far, is 66.

It feels a little like an act of defiance. After all, financial woes have caused Gov. Chris Gregoire to cut everything but her own hair, and, well ... the Seahawks.

But the sun came out the other day, and the mountains are beautiful this time of year. It reminded me of this quote from Anton Chekhov: "People don't notice whether it's winter or summer," he said, "when they're happy."

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

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