does money make you happy? Archives

The World Happiness Report And How It Applies To You and Me

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Sustainable

Happy SMART Day Everyone!

The World Happiness Report is hot off the presses and critics are lining up to take shots at its diversion from the GDP and the economic status quo. Commissioned for a United Nations Conference on happiness and published by The Earth Institute at Columbia University, a major focus of the report suggests the outrageous idea that seeking the well-being and happiness of individual citizens is much more important than the growth and health of that country’s economy. Using statistics from over 150 different countries and three prominent world studies, the report offers ways that governments can develop public policies to support and enhance the quality of life for its citizens, and create a more sustainable foundation for happiness for everyone. What does that mean for you and I? And why are the critics so worked up about it? [Read more…]

A Final Case For Simple Living; Or Why Shiny Objects Still Don’t Equal Happiness (Part 3)

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Rightsized, Sustainable

Now that I’ve written a couple of posts about why people try to buy happiness—even knowing it doesn’t work—I decided it was time to tell a personal story. Although I now understand that true happiness comes from doing what I love with people that I love on a regular basis—and attempting to live SMART 365, I certainly used to act otherwise. In fact, at one time in our lives Thom and I could both be accused of trying to buy happiness just like most people in our country. But fortunately that changed for us at one point—and perhaps in our story is a lesson that others might find useful.

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