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Does money bring happiness essay
How do we define happiness
Does money bring happiness essay
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Happiness, what exactly is it? Happiness is different to everyone, for one person happiness can be their family, and for another person happiness can be money. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Happiness is defined as “ the state of being happy ”(“Happiness.” Merriam-Webster).The definition itself is so simple, yet so complex at the same time, that in today’s time we are having trouble finding that key to happiness. Today, before writing this paper I went around asking family members of mine what the secret to happiness was, and I was pretty shocked but not that surprised at the answers I received. Let’s begin with my siblings, I have an older sister, an older brother and a younger brother. To my surprise they all had the same answer, money was the secret to happiness. According to them, when you are struggling financially you tend to be more stressed, and when you become stressed you tend to be less happy. For example, if your struggling financially, you start to worry about paying bills, rent, and food, and it’s …show more content…
I believe you need a balance of both because, life without money or family is a life I wouldn’t want to live in. Apart from family and money, most importantly you need to learn how to love yourself first in order to be happy. We as humans need to learn how to be happy on our own without needing someone else in our lives to fill that empty void us human crave. I belive that’s what we all struggle with and are all guilty of, for me as an example as much as I love my family I need to learn how to be happy with myself first. As someone once said “ Learning to love yourself will be the hardest thing you’ll ever do in life” (Rathje, Hailey. “Why Loving Yourself Is One of the Hardest and Most Important Things to Do”). I think everyone should take time from their lives and really take time to love and accept yourself and be happy before you find happiness in someone
The authors, Brad and Ted Klontz, show that money is identified as a major source of stress in our lives. “In a modern, industrialized society, money is one of the only things that touches on and impacts each and every one of our needs”. Money is not only essential to get our basic needs met, it is also very closely linked to emotional needs such as success, love, acceptance, security, atten¬tion, and the two are often inseparable.
Would you rather have millions of dollars or enjoy a life with happiness? Right after reading this question, most of the people would be saying, “Duh! Of course, I would choose to be happy”. And it is mainly because the goal of working hard is to live a life with more happiness. Then how do people try to achieve this goal of being happy? Not surprisingly, majority of the crowd seems to approach and see this goal of ‘happiness’ as being successful, translating into having a lot of money. Then does it mean that we feel happy if we possess piles of money? Does more money mean more happiness? If we search for “Can money make us happy” in Google, it shows 324 millions of results, and looking at the research from ‘80000 hours’, it says, “Note that this is $50-75,000 of household income. That’s equivalent to an individual income of more like $26-40,000”[1]. Ironically, this research shows that the equation of ‘more money is equal to more happiness’ is not always true. Reading the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Jay Gatsby tries his best to be rich for the marriage with his old girlfriend, Daisy. Thankfully, he does become rich, however, he gets shot by an incident and at the funeral, only a few people attend. Now, can money truly afford happiness?
What really makes happiness? Happiness does not come from having a great mansions or all the things you want, it comes from family. Money is something we all can accomplish, but yet that does not mean it will fill our hunger for love. Most of the time we take for granted what we received through our parents hard work and never stop and think or ask to ourselves, what would be if they were not there to assist in the ways they do.
In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).
For some, happiness is all that matters. Happiness is achieved in many ways, and it doesn’t always involve money. There are many things that contribute to making a person feel happy and successful. One can feel successful without a lot of money at all. For example, feeling loved is something that makes everyone happy. Many believe that without love life is not thoroughly complete, thus never truly achieving success. Ones line of work can also affect how happy he is. Some feel that it is more important to enjoy work and get less money than it is to hate work and get paid more. Another factor in achieving psychological success is ones ability to enjoy what life gives him. There are many qualities of life that are overlooked. Everyone is dealt family and it is important to value that.
Some people find happiness in buying electronics, clothes, and toys. It’s true, materialistic things can bring an abundance of happiness to an individual. However, investing in life makes people happier, and makes their life more significant. According to Robin F. Brancato, in the book Money, “The real happiness comes from social relationships, enjoyable work, fulfillment, a sense of meaning in life.” For example, Nora is a woman who has money, and she’s always trying to buy dresses and shoes to make herself happy. However, she just needs to do something significant with her life (qtd.in Wiseman). In fact, according Williams, “It’s not a name brand that will lead to happiness. It’s a person ability to make their lifestyle what they always fantasized and imagined it to be.” In other words, happiness does not come from being able to buy expensive things; it comes from being able to use money to make one’s life better. In fact, according to Rachel Berl, “a certain amount of wealth relieves financial stress and its associated hardship. But the absence of such worries brings about happiness.” For instance, using money and investing in real estate and life insurance. Doing this, one can live happily knowing their kids can live comfortable when they are grown. The point is, investing life makes people happy and brings happiness to the
This return us to the question of how much consideration you should give to money when making life choices to achieve the universal goal of happiness. And the answer is you should make choices that will give you enough money to live comfortably and allow you to focus on other factors that contribute to your happiness, such as interpersonal relationships and generosity towards others. And you should do this with the understanding that more money does not necessary result in happiness, although it does help, if spent in the right way.
Happiness is a feeling that humans naturally desire. Without it, one feels incomplete. In this generation, happiness has taken on a definition by how we are presented to one another. It is measured by how much money we have, how famous we are, or the things we possess. When in reality, none of these things guarantee a happy life. Happiness is something that cannot be bought with money, but rather, it must be found, earned, sought after. Each and every one of us has our own list of things that we consider to make us happy. However, happiness shines brightest through the relationships we create, and the goals we make for ourselves to strive after. Along with these two essential sources, we then can mix and match those things in life that we enjoy to create our own unique formula for happiness.
It is highly debated, but ultimately incorrect. The closest correlation found on this topic was in a study conducted by Stanford, an Ivy League business school. With their findings, we can concur that the only way money can make someone truly happy, is by spending it in constructive ways to help others. With that, it is safe to say that if someone finds themselves unsatisfied with their live and wealth, that they could use it for the greater good. They should put it into charities, or as simple as buying a friend a meal. Whatever it may be, use the money for others. And that is really how money can buy
Money is probably one of the most important things in this world. Without it, life would be very hard. With it, you become economically stable making life would be easier in some ways. But the real question is, can money actually make someone physically and emotionally happy? There are many sides to this debate; some who say yes and others who say no. Though most people agree with the statement, “Money doesn’t buy happiness,” there is still a large amount of people who disagree with it. They believe that money does indeed buy happiness and that it’s the most important thing in the world. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, it’s just a matter of what you believe in and your values.
When none of us has ever come across such words and formulas, none of the great personalities has ever mentioned it, then who the hell has instilled it in our minds that money brings happiness. But among this debate one question still raises its head - What is happiness? Happiness is not actually leading a luxurious life but the luxury of living a life. Happiness is not actually about expanding your business, but it lies in expanding the horizons of life. Happiness is not having a meal in the most famous restaurant but to have it with your most beloved family. It does not lie in attending honorable parties but to attend a party with honor.
Well that answer could not be so far from the truth, money can 't buy happiness. Sound like a contradiction? Did I get your attention?... According to Gregory Karp, money can make a person happy. In his article “Money CAN buy happiness,” Karp believes that money can bring happiness to acquire basic life needs but once those basic needs are met discretionary use of money will also bring happiness. He continues later on in the article to explain some suggestions on how to spend for happinessKarp’s first point in his article is that happiness needs to be bought to some degree. In order to have the ability to be happy you need to have the ability to pay for basic necessities such as food and shelter. In studies it can be seen that, “…once people had enough to meet their basic needs, somewhere between $8,000 and $25,000 or the equivalent of that in various spots around the world, happiness leveled out.” (). I agree with this statement because any person that is homeless, does not have adequate shelter, or the money for food and water has survival in mind. The mind is consumed with the need to live another day it does not have time to waste energy on obtaing happiness. Happiness is a balance between being physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually (Life of
everyone at a time or two, sometimes even more. Because of this our world is suffering
It seems only natural that happiness should flow from having more money. Even if they don’t admit it, people still behave as though it were true. More money means you can have what you want and do what you want. The house you dream of? It’s yours.
I never really thought the expression, “money can’t buy happiness”, was true. As an infant, just by observing the people around me, I observed when they would obtain money and a huge grin would spread across their face, the corners of their smile spreading from ear to ear. Whenever I would see that grin and a person’s face light up at the sight of a crisp, green bill it would make me believe that I had proved the famous expression wrong. Now that I’ve grown up and matured, my idea of that expression has changed. As of now, I am able to reflect on life more and look deeper into things and particularly into people more than I was able to do years ago. My ideas about this expression changed the most though because of the money situation my family had stumbled upon because of the failing economy. I remember being younger when the economy was doing well and waking up to twenty gifts for each of my three sisters and I. We used to believe that all of those presents, brought in because of money of course, were the best part of waking up on Christmas. Of course all of those toys and material items would make a child happy; however looking back it would only make them happy if it was given to them by somebody who bought it for them with love.