Category Archives: “How to Buy Happiness”

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In the article, “How to Buy Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky it talks about the relationship between money and happiness. It states it matters more how we spend our money then how much we possess. Money does provide us with certain opportunities, luxury, status, respect, a better job etc but this happiness does not always last for so long. It’s almost as if we are programmed to believe the more money we have the happier we are. But even the person with the most money can be the most miserable.

Rather than going out and buying a new pair of shoes, let’s go on out and buy an experience! Experiences with friends and family can last a lifetime. Material things are exciting for that one moment but soon the excitement starts to die out. But with an experience those memories will live on with you and will allow you to relive it with the people you experienced them with. These experiences will also allow us to not compare them to others because people tend to compare their lives to others.

Spending money on others and on need-satisfying goals can increase one’s happiness. Spending money on others allows someone to do something for someone other than themselves. Spending money on need-satisfying goals may be something they’ve been wanting to do for themselves that will benefit them greatly in the future or spending money in order to do something for someone else, such as charity. Also having time to do all these things would help in creating these experiences and having time to do all these things.

If only money could actually buy us happiness. It’s not about how much money we have but what we do with it matters so much more.

 

Money Can’t Buy Happiness

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In the article “How To Buy Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky , talks about the different ways people try to buy happiness and how they use it, some wisely and some not very wise. It is stated in the article that a research was done and there was a man who was very wealthy and had everything that he wanted but he still wasn’t happy with himself. Something that was said in the article really stood out to me and i’m sure it did to all the readers was ” It’s how we spend our money-not how much we possess-that has the greater influence on our happiness”. Spending money on expensive things for yourself doesn’t make you happy but if you spend money on helping others you will most likely be guaranteed happiness because you know you used your money for a good cause not just thinking about yourself.

The research that Sonja Lyubomirsky did showed that people are not using their money wisely and this supports the point that was made earlier about spending money on others by helping them and sharing the same happy feeling. Experience on the other hand can make a person happy. Why ? Well if you are helping a person that needs things more than you do you are going to feel good about yourself and share the same mutual feeling with the other person. But if you’re just working all the time and spending long hours of the day to be wealthy and have everything you want won’t make you happy, you’re just going to be a miserable person trying to get things you don’t even need thinking that you are going to be happy. Personally, I agree with this article not only because there is research to prove it but because it’s very true that money can’t buy you happiness, having everything in the world won’t make you happy, being rich won’t do anything for you but gain you respect from others around you not bring you happiness. But if you know how to manage your money if you are a wealthy person and you give back to the community or help out in a charity you will definitely find happiness and be happy for yourself.

Does Money Buy Happiness (?)

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In the article “How to Buy Happiness”, by Sonja Lyubomirsky, they surveyed over two hundred thousand college students about what makes them happy and the majority of the answers were ‘being very well off financially’. The author didn’t understand how money and happiness went hand in hand so she decided to speak with an ivy league graduate about it. At the end of that discussion, the graduate realized that he had it all, everything he can ask for but he still wasn’t happy. Studies say that it is not about how much we spend or what we possess but more of how we spend it. When looking at an updated study, the author realized that the more income an individual possessed the more happier they claimed to be, mostly because of the wealth they contained. Where other places, such as Cornell University and University of Colorado, believe that experiences is what makes us happy. When we get new things it is only a matter of time until it becomes old to us and needs to be replaced, but experiences we tend to remember them. Another reason why experiences are richer is because they cant be compared to by others, which is different from a possession where people can compare them to. They tend to say people who compare themselves to others or belongings to one another are those that tend to be unhappy within themselves. There was another study that said a way to gain happiness is by spending money on others. The act of buying something for someone whether they need it or not gives us a sense of gratitude and compassion. It gives us a sense of well-being and helps build social interactions and relationships with others, we are so distracted by our own problems that we forget the world.

In the world we live in today, many people believe that money buys happiness. In my opinion it is all an illusion. When you go out and spend money on luxurious things it feels good, however it is only a temporary happiness. But, when you go out with friends, family, or loved ones you create memories that will stay with you forever.

Say for example you are a parent with a full-time job, you have a stable income but you don’t get to spend as much time with your child as you wish. As far as home necessities and all the materialistic things in life, you have them because your able to afford it. So you spend all this time living and believing that you are happy, or at least content. Then the day comes where you are laying in your deathbed, you wont be thinking to yourself ‘i should have worked another hour’ but more like ‘i wish i could have spent more time with my child’.

Just because you make money, you don’t have to let it make you. Life is what you make of it and money is temporary, whereas memories are forever.

Buying your way to happiness

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In Sonja Lyubomirsky’s article, ” How to buy happiness she explains that happiness doesn’t come from being rich. Happiness comes from what your able to do with that money in a responsible  manner.Rich people tend to think their happier then the poorer person working  a 9-5 struggling. Having money opens the doors for various opportunities respect luxuries etc. Having all these opportunities individuals tend to think highly of themselves and think their much happier then a poor person just because of the money they possess. An individual can work long hours and able to enjoy the benefit’s, owning homes,cars, and yachts realizing you have all you’ve ever wanted yet your still miserable something’s missing. Money cannot satisfy every need nor bring happiness if your selfish. What if all you have is money then you’ll be miserable. The more money you possess the happier you assume you’ll be. A person can posses all the money in the world and still not be happy.Sonja reviews survey’s and collected data her research show people don’t spend money wisely. Materialistic idem’s are replaceable for example spending on a new watch you’ve had your eyes on for the past few weeks eventually you’ll get tired of it and become eager to replace it.Experiences leaves a bigger impact on and individual and the people they socialize themselves around, it grows on you and makes life more enjoyable. Good experiences help you grow as a person and is beneficial to your well-being and plays a big role in your happiness. Having money means you have the ability to contribute to others the ability to give back.

I Completely agree with the article the way you manage your money on who and what you spend it on plays a major role in your well-being and happiness as well as the individual around you . Experiences mean everything you can possess all the fortune in the world and still feel lonely, unmotivated, and miserable. Having money allows you to follow your dreams and meet your goals you have in life. Traveling the world meeting new people and being able to make a difference in their lives as well as your own. Giving back to your community, charities, assist in aiding people all can contribute to you happiness. In a way money can buy happiness it just all depends on how you spend, interact with others and your lifestyle.

Why have money if you can’t have happiness to???

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In ” how to buy happiness” by Sonja lyubomirsky she explains that it is so believed that “money can buy happiness” when in reality it can’t. When college students were asked where they wanted to be in life they basically said being very good financially. Isn’t that the American dream? The truth is you can be happy making minimum wage and miserable make $200,000 a year. Sonja says that when people first come into the life of money they are happy but then as time goes on they become used to it and their life becomes just as normal as those with less money then them. In the article a plastic surgent was asked if he was happy with his job. His response was the opposite of what you would expect a man of his status to say! He answered that at first it was good but then he became basically unhappy and unsatisfied by his job. He was making all this money and living a life that many would only dream to live and he was unhappy! Why have money when it only caused problems. Money shouldn’t only be spent on you because that’s what you call being selfish. You should think of others and what they would want. Only happiness will come out of helping somone else other then yourself. Money has more power then people think. Most people think it’s just their so you can spend it on whatever you want when you should really be seeing how you can help other maybe even have a huge affect on the world in a positive way.

My thoughts on this is that I completely agree with this. I’m sure everyone would want to wake up tomorrow being a millionaire and being able to buy whatever their hearts desire. But in the end you will get tired of your life, it’s like your life is a movie being played over and over agin and eventually you will get bored. Money has it’s limits! It’s always nice to have enough money where you can live comftable Knowing that your bills are paid and you have a house and shelter but once money become to much things change. The last sentence stood out to me the most because I believe it had the most meaning and basically summed up the how article. ” the key to buying happiness is not in how financially successful we are, but what we do with it; it’s not how hight our income is, but how we allocate it. ” This quote explains how it’s not how much money you have it what you do with it and that’s how true happiness is fulfilled; by doing more with something then you actually thought you could ever do.

How to buy happiness what good is money if It can’t buy happiness ? By Sonja lyubomirsky

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In the article How to buy happiness what good is money of it can’t buy happiness ? By Sonja lyubomirsky says that money isn’t about how much we posse money but how we spend Money in our daily lives .Money doesn’t only give us opportunities to have luxuries or conveniences . Money can afford me better respect and status . More time , more money either way , we can afford to access health care and nutrition even greater security and control . Just because money bring us happiness doesn’t mean that goes well for everyone .
so instead of people spending money on their selves . People should spent it more on others .I really don’t agree with this in a way I do but then again I don’t .Even having all that money couldn’t clearly make a person happy because yes you can buy yourself
a new house or a car but the fact that all that money is spend all on yourself make you feel lonely .I personally don’t think money is happiness I mean money get you the things you want but what guarantee you have that will bring you happiness (?) .Happiness come from having someone close to you to spend time with and make new memories and experiences. It is better to have a connection with someone one rather to stay alone .Happiness ; you just can’t buy it but it takes a lot of effort to make the best of things .
Happiness cannot be brought but given .Its is better to make people smile and make a experience rather than being alone .Happiness isn’t about money but the way how you use it depends on you .Money just come and go. Experiences bring out happiness because you make them while you doing the things you love.But money can have the ability to make you closer to love ones.Happiness comes in different forms.

#3 Using Money the Right Way to Be Happy

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In “How to Buy Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky, She  discusses how others may use money as a reason to be “happy”. Many people have money and buy themselves luxuries that they want and then claim to be happy. But in this article an Ivy League educated plastic surgeon says that he ” had difficulty feeling motivated”. This shows that “he realized he had everything wanted, but was completely miserable”. With this being shown, one can see that having a lot of money and everything you want, is not necessarily being happy. Many wealthy people out there have so many luxuries and an abundance of money yet there wealthiness doesn’t compliment their happiness. As people say that money is power, both Sonja Lyubomirsky, Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, from the op-ed article “How to Buy Happiness” argue that money is better related to peoples happiness when they use the money for unselfish reasons other than material possessions. Both articles support the fact that “buying happiness is to spend money on others instead of ourselves”. Many studies show that experiences and memories make us happier than materialistic possessions. Luxurious things like the latest phone that came out may make you happy temporarily, it is only a matter of time until it gets scratched, dull, and broken. As in spending money on a family trip may be more meaningful because even months after you come back you can remember those good times and it can spark a smile any day. Sonja says in her article that some research has shown that “spending money on need-satisfying goals…can trigger  ‘upward spirals’ -that is, streams of happy moods etc.” Spending money to satisfy others can make people feel better and happier. So that is to say that spending your money on a movie for your little brother can bring you more happiness than buying yourself a new watch. Money supplies our well-being and helps us survive this is true, but using money to be happy is more complicated then that. We think we are happy because we have money but happiness is deeper than that. Studies show that we are more happy when we use our money to do “satisfying pursuits”. In other words we feel good about ourselves when we give to others. Using money to have more “free” times with those who we love, can increase our happiness level. like Sonja says in her article “Sharing with others also stimulates positive social interactions, spawns new friendships and relationships, and improves old ones… extending generosity is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to bolster and sustain well-being”. We buy happiness by choosing to spend money on meaningful things.

Money can’t buy us happiness …

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The article ,” What Good Is Money If It Can’t Buy Happiness ? ” published by , Sonja Lyubomirsky , describes the results of a survey that was conducted in the united states with college freshmen . The survey consisted of asking the freshmen what their most important life goal was and what ended up happening was that 77 percent of the students answered , “being very well off financially “. For example being able to afford a lavish lifestyle which many of us wish for . But Lyubomirsky questions wether money can really buy happiness. Wealthy men were asked to reflect on there overall happiness many said they prefer being with friends than having to do long work hours . In other words they would more likely be with friends and hangout then work to afford things they probably don’t really need.

The article also describes how success is measured in experience rather than how much money one makes . For me i’m all about making memories that are going to last a lifetime . I would much rather have a good time with my friends then go out shopping for things I will probably regret buying soon after. I feel like having many experiences makes you more wealthy then having many vacation houses. One of the strategies that describe my opinion is the strategy that was mention in the article which stated ,”buying happiness is to spend money on others instead of ourselves “.  I guess the happiness you feel is the warm feeling you feel within yourself when you know you’ve done a good deed. It’s like the saying, “no good deed goes unrewarded” and what your rewarded with is the memory you get to share with that person.

In conclusion , the key to happiness is not wealth but what you do with it . I think plastic surgeons would prefer that as appose to working long hours of work to just end up feeling miserable.

Buying your happiness and happiness for others!

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In Sonja Lyubomirsky article “How to Buy Happiness” she states various ways that your happiness can be bought from satisfying others happiness to sharing and giving to others. Not only would that benefit you but benefit in the well-being of others as well. She teaches us that money doesn’t always satisfy your needs you can have all the money in the world but it’s how you use your money that makes you really happy. She states, “Growing evidence from Cornell University and University of Colorado at Boulder reveals, for example, that it is experiences-not things-that make us happy”. How you share your experiences with others makes you more social than others. With different experiences you don’t compare those to others because you have been doing something different. You are not following what others are doing or have because that just doesn’t really make you happy or unique. With other related factors the more money you might have the more you can share with others and try and make a difference. To sustain well-being you share with others because in doing that you become a happier person and use your money in a good way. As Lyubomirsky states, “Having money means that we have the ability to contribute substantively to our loved ones and communities, and even change the world”. To buy your happiness sharing your wealth to impact the lives of others affects your well-being. Many experiments are tested to see how individuals think about money and how to spend it. A study done in the University of British Colombia surveyed a group of employees before and after they had received a financial windfall. And its conclusion came to be that those whose bonus was spent on charities or buying something for others were the happiest because of that. How you give to others is rewarding when you see how happy you might make that person. Overall to buy your happiness you share experiences and money with others whom might not only be family.

Whenever you do something good for others it makes you a little happy. I know that if I help someone with something and they recognize I did something good to get noticed by them makes me happy. I don’t yet work enough to know how money can change me in a way if I will be the type to share my wealth and experiences with others or keep most for myself. But treating friends if they can’t get something or spending on family I think is always a good thing and will make me happy. Although, I feel that yes giving to others will make them happy and me because I have done something good besides spend on material things but when I feel like a person could do better or could have tried I don’t feel the urge to give away. When I see poor people on the streets I feel sad for them but I rarely give money because I think how bad could it have been for you to change for the better of you and not be out on the streets or did you just become so lazy and decide to drop everything in your life. Those are my perspectives on buying your happiness or others.

Happiness for Sale!

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In Sunja Lubmirsky’s article “How to Buy Happiness” points out the main factor of happiness. She believes that having possessions and materialistic things is not important if you have not experienced anything in life. She spoke to an Ivy League educated plastic surgeon with booming private practice about how happy he was. although he owned many expensive things that did make him happy. research showed that if you have these things and your basic needs are not met you happiness will not increase. She also studied and came to the conclusion just like Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton who wrote that spending your wealth with others will make your chances of becoming happier greater. Using the money that we have and outing it towards something that will help us grow is another in which she felt would help gain happiness. Buying more time meaning if we spend our money to give us more open and free time will make room for things you weren’t able to do before. At the end of her article she asked the question “What good is money if it cant but happiness?” and her answer was simply stating its not what you have but its what you do with what you have.

whenever somebody says that its not about the money its about life experience I automatically agree. People fail to realize if they buy a fancy car or a big house that does not mean that the sadness or depression that u faced in your old car or your small apartment will go away. if you used the money to do something you enjoy or go somewhere you always wanted to go is what would make you happy. When you do share amongst your peers, loves ones and friends is increases your happiness not only because you shared but because you did something for someone other than yourself. So instead of buying a fancy car or a new gold watch go somewhere excited and share that excitement with someone else and you will be happier than ever.