Title TBA What is happiness? For hundreds of years people have tried to define and achieve happiness. Can happiness be attributed to money, power, fame, or Pherell Williams song ‘Happy?’ The word happy is defined by Merrium-Webster as, “showing or causing feelings of pleasure and enjoyment.” While ‘happy’ can be defined by the dictionary, many people can’t define it, they just know how it feels. If you asked "how do you feel when you are happy?" The general overall response would be something like "I feel good when I 'm happy" I couldn 't agree more. I feel good, actually I feel great and extremly happy after going shopping for a new out fit. I felt amazing when I got a new car! In each incident I was extremely happy, so does money buy happiness? …show more content…
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 …show more content…
Karp recommended his reader’s to, “Throw money at a problem.” Money should never just be thrown at problem in hopes to resolve it for many reasons. First, it is just an attempt to cover the problem instead of confronting it and dealing with any bottled up thoughts or emotions which creates anxiety, depression and lack of motivation due to surpressed emotions.Psychology of America says that almost all cases of depression and/or anxiety are due to suppress emotions. Dealing with problems immediately is extremely important for expanding and maintaining happiness. If problems get bottled up the pressure builds inside until the bottle finally bursts open. You can only blow so much air into a balloon before it pops. not releasing some of the pressure or recycling the air blown into the balloon of self , turning the bad into good, looking for the solution not holding on to the problem your happiness is slowly becoming less of a
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Show MoreThat seems ridiculous at first. After all, if you buy new stuff, like a lamp, you might have that stuff until you die. If you go on a weekend trip with the family, it's over come Sunday.”(Williams) Both Williams, Gillespie and Norton remain on the same page and all agree that money can indeed buy happiness depending on what you spend it on. Martha C. White writer for Time also expressed her reasoning behind the pursuit of happiness financially. White begins her article “5 Ways Money Can Buy Happiness, Backed by Science” by stating that “The old saying that money can’t buy happiness? Not true, it turns out. But you have to spend strategically if you expect the Benjamins to put a smile on your face.”(White) Just like the proposal by Harvard professor Michael Norton and Geoff Williams, White figures that the strategic use of money leads to over happiness. White also conveys her ideas on spending on items that are necessitated or items that one is satisfied with. “No keeping up with the Joneses — that’s not going to make you
Furthermore, people may be thinking “This person has made me the kind of happy I want to be,” or “This object makes me so happy,” they may be tricking themselves into a false happiness. The self-help books may give tips on how to stay positive, but if so many of these books are being made, then they cannot possibly be making a large difference in your emotions. Happiness should be making you content and at
The popular question that has been around for all of time, Can money buy happiness? I was talking with a gentleman the other day at my work. He had stated that he had come over form Europe with only 200 dollars in his pocket and it is still there and he is so successful. I asked him “Are you serious?” and he said yes and you can do it too; this bugged me. This is why so many people come to America, right? Immigrants from all over insist on coming here because it’s the land of dreams and you can make millions…..NOT! We watch TV and listen to these people go on about how easy it is and we can all do it. Maybe, but it is stressful and horrible. No one ever questions if the rich people struggle or question their lives. Most studies show that rich people are happy, but equally to a poor or middle class person. However, most of these surveys are based off of selling something to that person. So these studies are not all that true. If you look rich people have higher taxes and very stressful jobs. Also, they have higher divorce rates as well. Bottom line is money can’t buy happiness nor does it mean that you are successful.
It is easier for wealthy people to pay for their needs, such as health care and dental care. If any abrupt situation approaches dealing with their health, a wealthy person will be financially stable to pay and fix it. According to an article, "Happiness Around The World: Is There More To It Than Money?" by Bozionelos, Nikos, and Ioannis Nikolaou, “One would expect that money is more important when it helps meet basic needs, and this should be especially true in poorer nations. However, as already seen, the relationship between income and general life satisfaction was mainly explained by whether material aspirations (such as buying luxury goods) could be fulfilled.” In other words, one’s concept of happiness can vary from nation to nation. For example, people living in poor nations and having a low income tend to be satisfied by having just enough to meet their necessities. While, on the other hand, people with higher income tend to be satisfied if they have enough to buy luxury goods. Being wealthy does not lead one to happiness; it can help some people to obtain happiness, but it can also lead others to have unwanted experiences. Having a minimum amount of money is necessary to be happy. Having the minimum amount of money to pay bills, have medical assistance, buy groceries, and clothing is considered as the basics needed for one to be happy. Money is a tool that can help a person obtain objects that can help him or her to have a comfortable life. However, money should not become the reason why a person is happy. Happiness comes within a person as a human being and money will never replace a friend, nor a loved
What is happiness? Happiness is strenuous, if not impossible to define. Many would agree that money provides one with fundamental needs such as food and shelter that are a necessity for experiencing happiness. I believe that money cannot buy happiness.
Can money buy happiness? The answer is effortless, no. As I have accredited before, our basic needs must be met. In text F “thinking about money actually caused people to savor positive things
The materialistic value of money is unable to offer true happiness. However, factors such as family and friends can provide happiness to everyone. Prosperity cannot be bought, no matter how much money is spent. The only thing that can cause you to be truly happy is the memories you made in your life time with friends and family. Money can help get something off your mind by spending it, but the memories you made while spending your money will make you smile at any time in life. You can socialize with your loved ones and create memories with them. You do not always have to spend money to be happy, but you could make jokes and have a great time to create memories.
David Myers says in the article 'Don't Worry You Can Be Happy'; by John B. Thomas. 'Happiness relies largely on things unrelated to money, such as meaningful activities and enriching relationships.'; With that the article states that with the following ten steps you can improve your happiness. One: learn to like your self. Two: take control of your destiny. Three: practice expecting the best. Four: become more extroverted. Five: try acting happy. Six: consider new work. Seven: Sleep, sleep, sleep. Eight: Foster close relationships. Nine: Tie the knot. Ten: have faith. So with all of the ten steps you can see that with a little faith and following these steps you could 'Be Happy';.
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. The new car you desire? Here are the keys. The freedom to enjoy your favourite pastimes? Here’s your racket, the court is down there, just past the pool.
Contrary to belief, genuine happiness is very rarely found at the bottom of a shopping basket or on the leather seats of a brand new car. Often we hear the cliché saying “Money can’t buy happiness” but this is in fact true. Whilst the elation and delight brought from finally owning a wanted item is extraordinary, you must remind yourself that your happiness should not become dependant upon your ownership of this item. Being happy is not something you can purchase from a shop or car dealership, it is the way you take on life. Unfortunately, happiness does not have its own aisle at shops and never will.
So, can money buy happiness? In addition, happiness is when people have a good health, they can make more money to take care of their families. They cannot do it when their health are worst. So, when people have a good health without heart disease, stress, high blood pressure, and etc, they will work more effective and more energy than an unhealthy person. Therefore, they will gain promotion earlier, faster, and make more money than unhealthy person. Moreover, healthy people contribute to save a lot of money for their families’ financial. In Unite States, people need to pay a lot of money for healthcare, hospital, and medicine. In the article “U.S. HealthCare: Most Expensive and Worst Performing,” the writer Olga Khazan tells the readers that in 2014, America was a country with a highest cost of healthcare in the world ($8,508) , and the cost of healthcare higher $3,000 than Norway, the 2rd country in the world ($5,669). Plus, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, the Unite States hospital’s cost for inpatient per day in 2013 is really high, and it may increase in future, such as New York is $2,194 per day, Texas is $2,242 per day, California is $3,128 per day (the highest) , and much more. Plus, each American family needs to spend a lot of money for the healthcare about $450 per month and more than $ 5,400 per year. As a result, when
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.
Money and Happiness are two things that we have all given a lot thought. We put lots of effort into these two things either trying to earn them or trying to increase them. The connection we make between money and happiness is strange because they are two very different concepts. Money is tangible, you can quantify it, and know exactly how much of it you have at any given time. Happiness, on the other hand, is subjective, elusive, has different meanings for different people and despite the efforts of behavioral scientist and psychologist alike, there is no definitive way to measure happiness. In other word, counting happiness is much more difficult than counting dollar bills. How can we possibly make this connection? Well, money, specifically in large quantity, allows for the freedom to do and have anything you want. And in simplest term, happiness can be thought of as life satisfaction and enjoyment. So wouldn’t it make sense that the ability to do everything you desire, result in greater satisfaction with your life.
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.
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.