Does Money Make You happy?
We are in a time of economic crisis. Savings are losing their value, stocks and shares are going down, businesses are closing down. Most people believe that money makes you happy, which means that losing money makes you unhappy.
Is there any evidence to support this belief? There has been quite a lot of research to show that money is not the key to happiness. James Fowler, an economic behaviorist at the University of California, Santa Barbara says that:
” Research shows that money has a small and temporary effect on whether or not we will be happy. An extra $5,000 in annual income increases the likelihood that we will be happy by about 2 percent.”
If we get a pay cut, “we may get a change in our material circumstances, but we tend to adapt to it,” Fowler says. “It has an effect (on our happiness level), but it is smaller than people expect.”
Positive Psychology shows that the main ingredient that makes you happy comes from within yourself and not from external circumstances.
Researcher Robert Biswas-Diener, co-author of the book Happiness and program director with the Center for Applied Positive Psychology in England, has traveled the world, from the slums of Calcutta to the African bush, to glean what drives happiness.
“One of the most instructive groups is the slum dwellers of Calcutta,” he says. “They live in deplorable conditions, they have serious health problems, but when you go to them and say, ‘How happy are you?’ They say, ‘There are some things we are extremely satisfied with and some things we hate.’
Herein lies the root of happiness in dire economic situations, he adds. Sure, have a good cry about your shriveling bank account. But then spend some time with those great kids, take a hike or go see a show.
“Don’t allow your attention to be sucked into the economy every single morning,” says Biswas-Diener. “It will seem like an enormous part of your life even though it is just one element.”
To learn more about how to be happy download this free ebook: Designing a Positive Happy Life. Simply fill in your first name and email address in the form below and the book will be yours within minutes.
