Money and Happiness

Last Thursday, August 2, USA Today ran an article If money doesn’t buy happiness.  How many of you still believe that money an abundance of it, can bring you the joy you are seeking?  Ya know what?  That’s the wrong attitude to have.  Money can’t make you happy.

Abundance?  Well that’s another issue.  That’s why many people ask NOT for money, but for abundance in their lives.  One quote that deeply resonates with me from the above linked article states:
But even before the economic crisis took hold, Americans faced a possible paradox that suggests money cannot buy happiness: U.S.wealth per capita has soared in recent decades (if not in recent years), but Gallup and other surveys suggest Americans might not be any happier.

This doesn’t surprise me in the least.  I’ve always felt and have written here on multiple occasions, that if given the choice I’d rather make a little less money and be happy with my job, love my job than be making money hand over fist and be miserable.

See?  This is a prime example of someone making an obscene amount of money, but if they are unhappy then what is the sense of life?

This quote from the same linked article:
For these reasons, states and cities also are putting well-being — a broader version of happiness — on the public agenda. Vermont enacted legislation in May to compile a new measure of the state’s “economic, environmental and societal well-being,” akin to Maryland’s Genuine Progress Indicator, which includes the value of housework and the cost of lost leisure time.

Civic groups in several U.S. cities — led by Seattle in 2010 and followed by Wisconsin’s Eau Claire and California’s Nevada City — have launched happiness initiatives. They ask residents to take a survey and use the results to offer community activities intended to lift spirits.
puts me in mind of Lionel Ketchian, who actually started a movement in the Fairfield, Connecticut that now has a worldwide reach.  Happiness Clubs, while sounding silly, kitschy, weird have actually done much good.  Focusing on ways to create more joy, more positive aspects of life, they’ve been a positive boon for a segment of the population.

There are so many resources available to those people seeking a positive path.  From blogs, to online newsletters to meetings such as The Worldwide Happiness Clubs.  We simply have to seek them out and WANT to seek them out.

Are you willing to go somewhere new?  Somewhere out of your comfort zone, if it provides a positive outlook?

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
–
Chris

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Money and Happiness