Money Can Buy Happiness…But Not In The Way You Think

In a recent study, behavioral psychologist studied the impact of certain purchases on people’s serotonin levels. This is a great study because people can always lie.
Somebody bought a car that cost him two hundred thousand dollars, he can tell you, “Hey, I’m happy I bought this car.”

It is hard to fake serotonin levels. That person who bought the two hundred thousand dollar car may be making a big deal that he is happy but deep down inside he’s worried about his car being stolen or getting all the money together.

Who knows what’s going on in his mind but serotonin levels in blood test do not lie and yes, the Science is in. Buying stuff does make you happy but the problem is it doesn’t last. You get caught in this endless spiral of wanting to buy more stuff to get that initial rush. Unfortunately, you can’t just buy the exact same item.

That is not going to work. Interestingly enough, according to the study, when you buy experiences, the happiness lasts much longer. At the very least, the experience of newness, adventure, and curiosity lasts for weeks if not months. Some can even last years. In certain cases, it lasts forever.

Does that trip to the great wall of China really impact people’s lives that fundamentally? Is going to Paris for two weeks or seeing the Colosseum in Rome that life-changing? Well, travel is able to deliver a sense of happiness and contentment not because you spent a lot of money. It is the experience.

You get from Point A to Point B and you become a different person. You break out from your shell, you put yourself in a position to explore things with a fresh set of eyes. When you’re traveling your expectations change. You are more likely to set aside your old tired assumptions and position yourself to absorb what life has to give on an immediate and raw basis. You allow this new experiences to impact the many aspects of what makes you who you are.

There are certain psychological inputs that you’re aware of, there are emotional stimuli during the trip. You eat different foods and you see different things. Your whole consciousness and being that make up who you are, are engaged.

That’s what happens in travel. So that happiness study that seems to suggest that when you buy experiences in the form of travel, you can be actually be happier for a longer period of time arrives at the wrong conclusion. It’s not the money, it is the experience.

Understand the truth behind this. Even if you have only a dollar to your name, you can buy experience. You can allow yourself to use that money as a gateway to open up to what the world has to offer. In fact, if you train yourself well enough, you don’t even need that money. That’s just a catalyst.

You can just choose to live life, to live every morning, welcome every new day with a fresh set of eyes and with a fresh new heart. Click here to learn how to do exactly that.

Why Do Millionaires Commit Suicide?

Believe it or not, a significant number of people who commit suicide every single year in the United States and elsewhere are individuals who have more than a few bucks to their name. This statistic blows many people’s minds because this is not how the stories supposed to end.

In our culture, we are led to believe that the more stuff you have, the happier you are supposed to be. The idea is that material possessions bring happiness. Keep in mind that there are scientific studies that prove that money does buy happiness, but the full story is it only works for so long. The best way to understand this is to think back to the last time you bought something.

Maybe you had your eye on a new Air Jordans, you’re excited about being able to buy that new pair so when you finally got it, you’re really stoked. You’ll walk around with your new Jordans, your friends would say, “Hey, nice shoes”, “great kicks”. But as time went on, there will just be another pair of shoes.

Given enough time, it’s time for you to buy another pair of Air Jordans and you go through the process again, there’s the sense of anticipation, you buy the item, you feel really good, you use it for a while and then you go back to where you were before. This is the reality of material-based happiness. It doesn’t last.
When you sit down and treat yourself to a heaping pile of fried rice, or mashed potatoes or pasta, you get a nice rush, but afterwards you’re hungry again. The same applies to sourcing your happiness and contentment from stuff. It never ends. You have to buy more and more stuff.

It’s like a heroine addiction, it’s never as good as the first time. You have to keep increasing the dose.

This is the background to why millionaires commit suicide in the United States and Western Europe. They buy more stuff, they have more dollars to their name but they never deliver the same amount of contentment as when they made their first million or they first bought their 20, 000 square foot home.

This is one treadmill that is very hard to exit because it becomes a part of who you are, it changes the way you look at things, the way you define yourself and how other people look at you. It’s like being stuck in a self-referencing mechanism that you just can’t get out from under.

Unfortunately, if the only measurement of success you have for yourself is how much stuff you have, any turbulence in your net worth is enough to bring your life crashing down. That’s precisely why so many millionaires commit suicide. It doesn’t matter how big your house is, it doesn’t matter where you live, it’s all pointless.

Thankfully, there is a better way, click here. Rediscover the classic idea of wholeness and free yourself from the mental prison of possessions.

Have You Let Your Reputation Ruin Your Life

Just as people desire material things, people also desire reputation. Let’s face it. We’re all works in progress. There’s always room for improvement. We’re not complete. You may be thinking that this is a big problem. You may be thinking that this is some sort of weakness, susceptibility, vulnerability or some sort of negative trait.

Another way to look at it is that this is what makes being human so engaging and fun. We’re not complete. We cannot complete our lives by marrying the right person. Nobody can complete you, only you can complete you. The whole idea of being incomplete is not a judgment or a clarion call to absorb other people or acquire stuff from them.

It is a reminder that it’s okay to exist, it’s okay to take things as they are and to experience life in such a way where the experience fills us in, changes us and our attitude towards our sense of limitation, and ultimately our mortality is what changes us for the better.
We celebrate life despite all its imperfections. In fact, it’s in the imperfections that we see the meaning of life. Believe it or not, it’s death that gives life’s meaning. It’s very easy for us to be gripped by the fear of this lack of completion, to take refuge in things that really don’t matter that much.

Reputation is one of these things that we take refuge in. Instead of celebrating the empty space in our lives and see it in a proper context, we look to plug in our inadequacies. We become so possessed and so taken by the need to be something bigger, stronger and more desirable than who we think we are.

This is where the idol of reputation comes in and it becomes very all-consuming infatuation. It can even be more damaging than greed. The problem with reputation is that you are not in control. Desire for possession have at some level involve a sense of control.

That is not the case with reputation. why? You’re dependent on what other people think of you. You think it’s bad enough controlling yourself, can you imagine trying to control other people? If you think it’s difficult changing yourself, can you even imagine changing other people’s minds? It’s not going to happen.

That’s precisely the position you put yourself in. It’s very unstable, people change their minds all the time, people can turn on you at anytime. This happens regardless of what you do. You might think you’re doing an amazing job but, there are people that you cannot please. People have their own agenda and most of the time these have little to do with you. Stop beating yourself up trying to impress others who ultimately cannot be controlled. Focus instead on how you respond to others. That’s the only thing you can do.

It’s too easy to ruin your life or the enjoyment of your life seeking other people’s approval and validation. Thankfully, there is a better path. This is a path of control, this is a self-contained, self-sustaining path to wholeness and wellness. Click here for the good news.