$$$ does not equal :-)

In a time when money is tighter than it used to be, I think it is vital we remember that money does not buy happiness.
In 2003, New Scientist, one of the top science magazines, surveyed 65 countries to see which one was happiest. Can you imagine which country has the happiest people? It wasn’t America, the very Land of the Free, where we seem to have it all. It was a country where the average income per person at the time of the survey was $875 a year, and 60% of the people were below the poverty line. It is the 9th most populous country in the world. Yes, the happiest place on earth in 2003 was not Disneyland, but Nigeria. Following Nigeria was Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico. The least happy was Russia. And you know where we were on the list, America? 16th.

This survey and countless other studies confirm the old adage that money cannot buy happiness. While everyone has differing opinions on how to find true and lasting happiness, we now know what will not. The researchers for World Values Survey described the desire for material goods as “a happiness suppressant.” In fact, while American’s personal income has increased two and a half times in the past 50 years, our happiness level has stayed the same. An article on this subject in Forbes said, “Surveys have found virtually the same level of happiness between the very rich individuals on the Forbes 400 and the Maasai herdsman of East Africa. Lottery winners return to their previous level of happiness after five years.” The point? You don’t have to have money to say yes to happiness.

I see many people who are earnestly in the “pursuit of happiness” really pursuing only stuff. Most of us have fallen prey to the idea that a nicer car, a bigger house, or the latest techno gadget will bring us joy. If this were true, how come my friend who went to Africa last summer found a village full of people who had never seen a digital camera or experienced hot running water, yet couldn’t stop smiling? How come I went to Peru and played “Duck, Duck, Goose” with little Peruvian children who didn’t have video games, let alone a home with carpet, yet had bigger smiles and louder laughs than most children in this land of plenty?

Of course, forgoing our comfortable homes and modern conveniences is not necessary to become like the happy people in these foreign countries. As the researchers in the survey said, it is the desire for material goods that is a happiness suppressant. Henry Ward Beecher said, “In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up that makes us rich.”

And that is the secret to buying happiness: The data has proven it time and time again. You can buy happiness by giving charitably. It may be donating financially or by giving time or other means. Survey data from 2000 show that people who give money to charity are 43% more likely than nongivers to say they are very happy. A study of British neighborhoods in 2004 found that communities with more volunteerism had lower crime rates, better schools, and... higher levels of happiness than communities with less volunteerism. You can say yes to happiness by saying yes to giving.


Happiness is central to the idea of America. Along with life and liberty, the Founding Fathers listed “the pursuit of happiness” as an unalienable right in the Declaration of Independence. In his book Gross National Happiness, Arthur Brooks says, “Our gross national happiness depends on the way we teach and live our values. These values are faith, family, freedom, nonmaterialism, opportunity, hard work, and charity. They were the vision of our nation’s founders, who took happiness very seriously.” Critics might say that values are not more important to our nation than the economy, education, or health care. But the critics are wrong. Without values, even successful jobs and a booming economy would bring us meaningless toil and joyless lucre. Our education would be for what purpose? There would be no reason to fight to protect our way of life. Our health care system would keep us healthier-- for what? Our founding fathers understood this point: The pursuit of happiness is central to everything we do, and our values are what make this pursuit possible.


In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.” A dying economy, or any other condition does not have more power over your happiness than you do. There have been numerous researches and surveys performed to find out how to find true happiness. The hard data says that marriage makes people happy, children don’t. Work makes us happy, not necessarily leisure. People on the political right are nearly twice as happy as those on the left. Religious people are nearly twice as happy as secularists. These findings can be taken for what they’re worth, but what happiness all comes down to is a personal decision. Happiness is not a product that appears when certain factors are calculated together. Throughout history we’ve heard of incredible individuals who have decided to say yes to happiness despite grueling circumstances. One of my favorite books is Man’s Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl who was an inmate in a Nazi concentration camp. He said the last of human freedoms is the ability to choose one’s attitude. Anne Frank felt similarly. Amidst daily bickering, extremely tight quarters, a struggle to find enough food, and an uncertain future, she wrote, “I'm blessed with many things: happiness, a cheerful disposition and strength. Everyday I feel myself maturing, I feel liberation drawing near, I feel the beauty of nature and the goodness of the people around me.” The picture of our life is determined by the brush we choose to paint it with. Happiness is a choice.

No matter the condition, no matter the size of your bank account, I urge you to say YES to happiness.