![]() ![]() For example, a social worker who struggles a lot to reunite a child with his or her parents derives a very high and long lasting amount of happiness out of that life event. Probably that is why even with high amount of emotional stress caused by the misery they encounter on a daily basis, professionals like social workers still have many truly happy moments out of their work. Research shows that happiness without meaning is characterized by a relatively shallow and often self-oriented life, in which things go well, needs and desires are easily satisfied, and difficult or taxing entanglements are avoided. Recent research at Stanford and UCLA Berkeley shows that people’s happiness levels were positively correlated with whether they saw their lives as meaningful or not. Yes, money can definitely buy happiness: hedonic happiness, but not meaningful happiness. On the contrary, the all possessing rich celebrities lead miserable lives. For example, people like Nelson Mandela, despite struggling a lot in their lives, are one of the happiest in their old age because of the meaning their lives held. On the other hand, meaningful happiness is the kind of happiness that one derives from the meaning of their life in retrospect. ![]() Hedonistic pleasures hold high amount of importance in the present, fades away in retrospection, and is relativistic in nature. As we now know, hedonistic pleasure starts to fade out a few months later and people want a continuous feed of hedonistic pleasures to be happy. Hedonistic happiness is the short term happiness that we get out of possession, shopping, and other self-indulgent activities. I think there are two types of happiness in our lives – hedonistic happiness and meaningful happiness – and money can definitely buy one of them. Part of the confusion of whether money can buy happiness or not probably lies in the way we view happiness. If you have sufficient money, then life is easier, if not happier. Though there is a lot of debate about how people look at happiness and whether money can buy happiness, there is no doubt that lack of money definitely buys you misery. He said that one must have a reason to be happy and that the very constant search of happiness actually thwarts happiness. Some people, like the famous psychologist Victor Frankl say that happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue. Humans have always been in pursuit of happiness and they wish to maintain an unending level of happiness in life. Happiness has always been a difficult subject of research for psychologists and sociologists, partly because it is so difficult to measure. ![]() Human’s happiness is seen as a hedonic treadmill, as one must continually work to maintain a certain level of happiness. Human’s happiness levels don’t seem to increase beyond a threshold.Ģ. ![]() It is based on two very well researched findings:ġ. Wikipedia defines it as the supposed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness, despite major positive or negative events or life changes. Science calls this effect as the Hedonic Adaptation or the Hedonic Treadmill. I feel as indifferent about the villa as I did about my one room student apartment.’ ‘I come from work, open the door and … nothing. What happened? The happiness effect evaporates after a few months. But, soon the cheerfulness disappeared, and six months later he was unhappier than ever. For the first few weeks, he beamed with delight. His dream materialized into a villa with ten rooms, a swimming pool and an enviable view of lake and mountains. Rolf Dobelli describes it nicely in one of his articles: A friend, a banking executive, whose enormous income was beginning to burn a hole in his pocket, decided to build himself a new home away from the city. But, soon you realized that the happiness fizzled out, and you are back to the same level of happiness. You were really happy of your new possession and you thought that it is going to add to your stack of happiness in life. Imagine the excitement you had when you bought your first car. ![]()
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