1.Over the past quarter-century,economists and psychologists have banded together to sort out the hows,whys,and why nots of money and happiness. Why is it that the more money you have, the more you want? Why doesn't buying the car, house, or cell phone of your dreams bring you more than momentary joy?
In attempting to answer these seemingly depressing questions, the new scholars of happiness have arrived at some insights that are,well, completely cherry . Money can help you find more happniess, so long as you know just what you can and can't expect from it . Much of the research suggests that seeking the good life at a store is an expensive exercise in futility. Before you can pursue happiness the right way , you need to recognize what you've been doing wrong.
The new science of hapinnes starts with s simple insight: We're never satisfied. We always think if we just had a little bit more money,we'd be happie,' says Catherine Sanderson, a psychology professor at Amherst College,"but when we get thher,we're not." Indeed,the more you make,the more you want. The more you have,the less effective it is at bringing you joy,and that seeming paradox has long bedeviled economists" Once you get basic human needs met, a lot more money doesn't make a lot more happiness," notes Dan Gibert, a psychology professor at Haward University and the author of book Stumbling on HaPPINESS. And while the rich are happier than the poor ,the enormous rise in living standards over the past 50 years hasn't made Americans happier. Why?
2.Money can lead to more stress. The big salary you pull in from your high-paying job may not buy you much in the way of happiness . But it can buy you a spacious house in the suburbs. Trouble is, that also means a long trip to and from work, and study after study confirms what you sense daily: Even if you love your job ,the little slice of everyday hell you call the commute can wear you down. You can adjust to almost anything ,but a stop-and-go drive or an overstuffed bus will make unhappy whether it's your first day on the job or your last. Your tendncy to grow bored with the things that you acquire seems to be a deeply rooted human trait. An inability to stay satisfied is arguably one of the key reasons ancient man moved out of his drafty cave and bagan building the civilization you now inhabit. But you're not living in a cave, and you likely don't have to worry about mere survival. You can afford to step off the hedonic tread-mill.
