Material Possessions - The Path To Happiness?

Famous celebrities who have overdosed and lottery winners who end up more unhappy than before, and often broke, are perfect examples of how money cannot buy happiness. Even though money gives people access to material, “shiny” things, it cannot buy happiness and even contributes to unhappiness. Once a person’s basic needs are met, lasting happiness, or a state of contentment or intense joy, does not come from money, but from relationships, experiences and personal freedom. “Freedom and independence are more important to people’s well-being than money, according to a meta-analysis of data from 63 countries published by the American Psychological Association (Money Can’t Buy Happiness).” Oxford University psychologist, Michael Argyle’s comprehensive work The Psychology of Happiness concludes that “The conditions of life which really make a difference to happiness are those covered by three sources--social relations, work, and leisure. (_______)” In addition, a 2002 study by Ed Diener, a University of Illinois psychologist, and Martin Seligman, University of Pen... ... middle of paper ... ...s colleagues surveyed approximately 165 households via an anonymous online survey and were surprised to find that while money eased many aspects of these peoples lives, it made other aspects more difficult.

The things that make one happy can seem boring to another person, happiness is based on good health, love, and success, success can be anything not only making money, it can be passing an exam and so. Money can’t buy emotions, for example, someone dies and one is unhappy, you can’t bring the person back to life, no matter what amount of money you have in your account. Yes, money can buy you materialistic things, buy you a car, house, clothes, but then money can’t buy you time, sleep, knowledge, health and life. We all think that the rich people have the best life, they live the life that everyone wants to live, they buy things when they want to and they throw things away and then what come into our mind is that these people are the happiest people on earth but then are they really happy? There are so many reasons why money even makes the rich unhappy regardless of the amount of money they have in their account, they live two lives - the one that they want the public to see and the one that they dream to live, they have to pretend in the public so that people will respect them, but then back home they are having the worst family problems and they can’t really do anything about it because all the do is focus on work, focus on making their company the best and forget that their family is going apart, when one is having problems at home then the person is not in

Despite his multitude of successful movies and net worth of 130 million, Robert Williams still loses his life to depression. Wealth can buy many things, but happiness does not classify as one of those things. Before William’s unfortunate death, he admits this truth in his biography when he states, “ Depression is not a joke!…No amount of money or fame can fix it”(Dougan 211). Just like wealthy people cannot buy off mental illness, they cannot buy happiness. Both depression and happiness regard as abstract concepts that no amount of money can buy.

The answer is no. The pursuit of happiness would benefit of those around us and may be considered as a selfless, rather than a selfish act. If any parent is asked what they want for their children, from toddler stage to adulthood, the reply would most likely be happiness. An article by Blackman, 2014, lends and interesting equation between money and happiness. The article illustrates that while some people depend on the materialistic things in life to make them happy such as the advancement of technology and higher incomes, they are still no more happier as a result.

In today’s world, almost everyone thinks that the key to happiness is using their money to get as much material stuff as they possibly can before the next person, which is the worst way to go about achieving true happiness. While getting material stuff can make you happy for a short time, after a while it will bore you and cause you to waste your money on stuff you don’t really need. Which causes you to feel empty inside, which then causes you to buy more stuff in order to fill the empty hole within you and forces the twisted cycle on. But there is a way for you to escape the twisted cycle of buying useless material stuff in order to be happy, and it’s a lot easier than you think. The way to being truly happy is by using your money on experiences

Lyumbomirsky says “They do not realize that the key to buying happiness is not in how successful we are, but perhaps what we do with our success; it’s not how high our income is, but how we allocate it” (How of Happiness). It seems that we are so worried about getting rich that we lose sight of what success could truly do. Much like the characters in the p... ... middle of paper ... .... If we were not blinded by the stigmas that money equals happiness, perfectly displayed in Richard Cory, we would be able to reach out and help the people who are considerably unhappy. Works Cited Hosseini, Khaled.

Chief among these false paths to happiness are wealth, rank, and power. Speaking on Wealth, Lady Philosophy says, “wealth cannot make a man free of want and self-sufficient, though this was the very promise we saw it offering” (83). Moreover, Philosophy points out that the gathering of wealth does not stop people from taking that wealth away (83). Indeed, by its very nature, wealth seems contradictory. If we collect wealth, we believe we will be self-sufficient and free of want, so we hoard it; But “being miserly always makes men hated” (65).

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.

Like what Matthie Ricard (2007) said “Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things.” (p. 31) Happiness is not about material wealth. It can be assumed that a person is happy because of money but like what people say “money can’t buy happiness”. Aside from that, many things in life hinder people’s happiness. Life is not complete without struggles. Those problems and challenges help people grow.

But as Millburn and Nicodemus also stated, “A life of poverty—a life of perpetual deprivation—isn’t joyous either.” When certain victims of poverty have the urge to go for having a fortune, they start to lose their sight of living the right of way. The right of way involves the most significant priorities of living on planet Earth: Family, friends, relations, companionships, the population, and our input into supporting the community. Even if some of these individuals get a sense of satisfaction of pursue a more affluent life, most would ultimately