It's true. Once a person feels secure (i.e. not homeless in the case of the Calcutta slumdwellers) and fairly equal with their neighbors (they didn't say that but I bet it's true that the Calcutta slumdwellers are happy because they live near eachother, and not near a megamillionaire)....then that's the key. I was saying last night - I don't get why a certain CEO feels the need to cut so many jobs just to increase his retirement portfolio - he already has millions. I'm happy with what I have and if I had the choice to cut jobs to increase my stock price or just keep it level and keep the jobs - I'd keep the jobs! But who knows what it feels like to be one of those people at the top? I can't imagine.
My favorite part of the article is this:
(Curiously, although money doesn't buy happiness, happiness can buy money. Young people who describe themselves as happy typically earn higher incomes, years later, than those who said they were unhappy. It seems that a sense of well-being can make you more productive and more likely to show initiative and other traits that lead to a higher income. Contented people are also more likely to marry and stay married, as well as to be healthy, both of which increase happiness.)
However, being a homeowner with some pets and a piano would seriously increase my happiness, and the thing preventing me from getting those things is money. Or lack of generous friends... :)
Circles are useful things, but sometimes it's helpful to have a beginning and an end. Think about the chicken and the egg too much and you just want to scream in frustration.
We were just discussing something akin to this yesterday while marveling over the foo-foo-ness of the new Natick Mall. It seems the rich get even richer, and the "middle class" seem to have to either dig in and try to be rich, or live paycheck-to-paycheck. The marketing juggernaut that redefines our needs is just evil.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-10-22 04:04 pm (UTC)My favorite part of the article is this:
(Curiously, although money doesn't buy happiness, happiness can buy money. Young people who describe themselves as happy typically earn higher incomes, years later, than those who said they were unhappy. It seems that a sense of well-being can make you more productive and more likely to show initiative and other traits that lead to a higher income. Contented people are also more likely to marry and stay married, as well as to be healthy, both of which increase happiness.)
rock on.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-22 04:14 pm (UTC)However, being a homeowner with some pets and a piano would seriously increase my happiness, and the thing preventing me from getting those things is money. Or lack of generous friends... :)
Circles are useful things, but sometimes it's helpful to have a beginning and an end. Think about the chicken and the egg too much and you just want to scream in frustration.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-22 05:32 pm (UTC)