Contrary to our long-time belief that money can’t buy happiness, a new study shows it can. They key is where and how to spend your money. Bottom line, money can make us happy if we spend it more on doing things and less on material things.

The study was recently presented in the the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. It comes from our basic need to feel alive and connect with other human beings. Given a choice between a new iPhone versus a trip to a tropical island, the latter will give your more satisfaction that will last over a long period of time.

Here are the highlights from LiveScience.com

“These findings support an extension of basic need theory, where purchases that increase psychological need satisfaction will produce the greatest well-being,” said Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University…

…Participants in the new study were asked to write reflections and answer questions about their recent purchases. Participants indicated that experiential purchases represented money better spent and greater happiness for both themselves and others. The results also indicate that experiences produce more happiness regardless of the amount spent or the income of the consumer.

Experiences also lead to longer-term satisfaction.

“Purchased experiences provide memory capital,” Howell said. “We don’t tend to get bored of happy memories like we do with a material object.”

Howell notes that several studies going back at least 35 years show that money does not make people happy. Yet the belief persists that it will.

“Maybe this belief has held because money is making some people happy some of the time, at least when they spend it on life experiences,” Howell said.

photo by {artemis}

There’s another surprising research about the effect of chit chats to our overall happiness. While meaningful and funny conversations can easily boost our endorphins, a group of psychologist recently found out that small talks can be quite stressful for us.

They investigated the types of conversations to see if there’s any different between happy and unhappy folks. Here’s the gist of their new study published in Psychological Science:

Greater wellbeing was related to spending less time alone and more time talking to others. The happiest participants spent 25 per cent less time alone and 70 per cent more time talking than the unhappiest.

But the researchers were surprised to discover that the type of conversations people took part in also affected their happiness levels.

The happiest participants had twice as many deep and meaningful conversations and one third as much small talk as the unhappiest.

Matthias Mehl, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, said: “These findings suggest that the happy life is social and conversationally deep rather than solitary and superficial.”

The researchers conclude that profound conversations may have the potential to make people happier.

They said: “Just as self-disclosure can instill a sense of intimacy in a relationship, deep conversations may instill a sense of meaning in interaction with partners.”

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photo by Landor42

The New York Times has an interesting article about happiness and how it affects our well-being. Here are some of the interesting points of this short article:

“Human beings are in some ways like bees,” Professor Haidt said. “We evolved to live in intensely social groups, and we don’t do as well when freed from hives.”

…Brain scans by neuroscientists confirm that altruism carries its own rewards. A team including Dr. Jorge Moll of the National Institutes of Health found that when a research subject was encouraged to think of giving money to a charity, parts of the brain lit up that are normally associated with selfish pleasures like eating or sex.

The implication is that we are hard-wired to be altruistic. To put it another way, it’s difficult for humans to be truly selfless, for generosity feels so good.

As this ScienCentral News video explains, researchers havefound new evidence that “American Dream” achievements like wealth, fame and image are not the keys to happiness.

11 steps to make you be a better and happier person,i hope God willing this will help you as well.

Inspirational video presenting the 9 timeless secrets to be happy that you can easily apply to your daily living.

Dr. Aymee Coget, happiness expert, teaches you how to let go of the little annoyances that can wreck your positive attitude and puts you back on track to happiness.

Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard talks about happiness the conditions it requires, at what it really means. He shows some wonderful images of Tibet and the Himalayas as well. An inspiring speech and a good introduction into some of the core philosophies of Buddhism. Go to ted.com for more movies of some of the worlds finest speakers and thinkers.

Long thought of as a secluded paradise hidden deep in the Himalayas, and renowned for its pursuit of happiness over economic prosperity, Bhutan now struggles to accommodate the invasion of tourists, new media and western materialism in the twenty first century. As monks play with condoms, clowns offer advice on AIDS and farmers feed cannabis to pigs, we hear the thoughts of Government officials, Buddhist monks, tourists and ordinary Bhutanese…see full film details at www.booserver.com

Happiness is quite difficult to explain to different people because we have different experiences, expectations, educational level, age and perceptions about life. If you like Math or solving complex equations, you may want to check out the simple model of happiness at IdeaSea.org. It’s a very interesting explanation and perspective