Cultivating Happiness: How important is Money & Wealth for being happy?

I just got back from a great weekend in Vancouver, BC with my family. British Columbia is known as "lotus land" for the paradise like conditions the Canadians have cultivated in that corner of the continent - and I think they are really on to something. The city is so cosmopolitan: a mix of cultures, languages, cuisines -- and the people seem to take a lot of pride in the way they've cultivated a friendly, civic environment. It's a fitting venue for the Dalai Lama, who'll be in Vancouver this Fall to talk about "Cultivating Happiness"

In preparation for this visit, the Dalai Lama Center commissioned a poll of Vancouver residents. The questions, and the results are pretty interesting, especially in terms of the role of this month's theme "Wealth & Money". First, here is the scripted questions from the poll:

1. On a scale of 1-10, 10 where 10 means being most happy, how happy are you?
2. What in your life makes you happy?
3. And what in your life makes you unhappy?
4. What do you do when you are unhappy to feel happier?
5. Which of the following two things would make you happier:
a. To be handsome/beautiful or to be successful in your career?
b. To be rich or to be thin?
c. To have people say you’re funny or say you’re smart?
d. To have inner peace or to have material wealth?

To the question "What makes you happy?", people responded "Family" with an overwhelming 48%, and "Friends" second with 15%. "Money" trailed way behind with only 5%.

However, when asked what makes you unhappy, money was firmly in the lead.

Another interesting question was when people were asked to trade off material wealth and inner peace. Poll respondents went for inner peace in a big way.

So this pretty much looks like a slam dunk for the buddhists! Cultivate happiness by letting go of your attachments to material wealth, and instead find pleasure in inner peace and family. Or maybe it was just too embarrassing to tell the pollsters that your family drives you crazy and you really want to live the life of Paris Hilton? Who knows. But I can't imagine many people end life wishing they'd made just a bit more money. Its seems to me that regrets in life are usually more about something we wish we'd done or something we wish we'd said.

So back to work, now that labor day is over - and chances are you'll earn some lucre today -- but make sure you say and do what you mean to as well. Chances are, you won't regret it.

You can download a pdf of the full results from the Mustel Group website.

Comments

[Jeremy]

I'm always interested to see these reports of what we say we value, because they tend to contradict how we actually set up our lives. We say family and friends are more important than work and money, but not many people turn down a promotion that requires more work for more money...taking time away from the things that matter more to us.

[Tony D. Clark]

These are some really interesting numbers. I agree with Jeremy for the most part, but many of the folks I talk to seem to genuinely be in the family-first camp. Or at least they are discovering that it provides the fulfillment they're seeking, and are moving that way.

There's definitely a trend towards a balance - where you're making enough to meet your needs (and those most important desires) while having a rich family life.

All the things, material and otherwise, that many thought would bring them happiness have failed miserably. So instead of just changing the "things" they are pursuing, they're really changing the way they look at "things" all together.

[dwlt]

Someone wise once told me that "money can't buy you happiness, but it sure helps". Their point being, of course, that if you can become financially secure, then that frees up more time for family and friends.

The numbers (sort of) support this by indicating that for a fair few people having no money worries would lead to them having inner peace.

It's also interesting to note that the top "happy" things could be considered long-term, whilst the top "unhappy" things could be considered short-term (eg how am I going to pay that bill tomorrow?)

[Frank P]

This is always a good discussion point - I think you get many rich people who are very unhappy.

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