Clues to Happiness in Relationships, Shared Experiences

An enlightening article on this perpetual, yet elusive, concern.
(Excerpts:)

But Will It Make You Happy? 

By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM 

Published: August 7, 2010

[J]ust where does happiness reside for consumers? Scholars and researchers haven't determined whether Armani will put a bigger smile on your face than Dolce & Gabbana. But they have found that our types of purchases, their size and frequency, and even the timing of the spending all affect long-term happiness.
One major finding is that spending money for an experience — concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco — produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff.

"'It's better to go on a vacation than buy a new couch' is basically the idea," says Professor Dunn, summing up research by two fellow psychologists, Leaf Van Boven and Thomas Gilovich. Her own take on the subject is in a paper she wrote with colleagues at Harvard and the University of Virginia: "If Money Doesn't Make You Happy Then You Probably Aren't Spending It Right." (The Journal of Consumer Psychology plans to publish it in a coming issue.)

Thomas DeLeire, an associate professor of public affairs, population, health and economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, recently published research examining nine major categories of consumption. He discovered that the only category to be positively related to happiness was leisure: vacations, entertainment, sports and equipment like golf clubs and fishing poles....

Current research suggests that, unlike consumption of material goods, spending on leisure and services typically strengthens social bonds, which in turn helps amplify happiness. (Academics are already in broad agreement that there is a strong correlation between the quality of people's relationships and their happiness; hence, anything that promotes stronger social bonds has a good chance of making us feel all warm and fuzzy.) ...

[S]cholars have found that anticipation increases happiness. Considering buying an iPad? You might want to think about it as long as possible before taking one home. Likewise about a Caribbean escape: you'll get more pleasure if you book a flight in advance than if you book it at the last minute....

FOR the last four years, Roko Belic, a Los Angeles filmmaker, has been traveling the world making a documentary called "Happy."...  

Mr. Belic says his documentary shows that "the one single trait that's common among every single person who is happy is strong relationships."

Collaborating, sharing in an experience - a study circle in Canada

Dicta:

[M]an's supreme honor and real happiness lie in self-respect, in high resolves and noble purposes, in integrity and moral quality, in immaculacy of mind. [Even so, some] have, rather, imagined that their greatness consists in the accumulation, by whatever means may offer, of worldly goods....

[T]he happiness and greatness, the rank and station, the pleasure and peace, of an individual have never consisted in his personal wealth, but rather in his excellent character, his high resolve, the breadth of his learning, and his ability to solve difficult problems....

('Abdu'l-Bahá, Civilization, p. 19 and 23-24)

Photo by Ryan Lash. Copyright Bahá'í International Community. View here.

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Clues to Happiness in Relationships, Shared Experiences

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