How to buy happiness | Michael Norton

[jackdauphan]

this so true. I began giving to charity years ago & it led me to become involved with volunteer work for a local children's hospital that treated kids w/ cancer. 3 years later I was diagnosed w/ stage IV metastatic cancer & after treatment & surgery I was told I would not survive. b/c I had been involved w/ that charity I found it impossible to feel sorry for myself. Miraculously today I am cancer free & my docs believe my positive mindset was a big reason. happiness begins when selfishness ends

[Paragonx]

"Money can't buy happiness"? That is not said very well. But "Money is no guarantee of happiness" - much more precise.

[JaydedCammie]

It doesn't even matter if it's money. I'm a broke college student. I make a lot of the things I give away. It still makes me happy to see someone has enjoyed and used something I made for them.

[cheyennes]

I feel like this is something that has been obvious to me since I was a child. When you give something to someone you remove focus from yourself and are "present" pun intended, and able to improve someone else's happiness. And I think regardless of whether it is your own or someone else's money as long as it is proportionate to your budget you'd still be happy giving it away. Most people can afford giving away a dollar or 50 cent equivalent in there own specific currency w/o major ramification

[treygrove]

after watching this video I decided that I should try this and see how it feels for myself, so I went to a buddy's house today and ordered us pizza. when the delivery girl got there I gave her a $10 tip. the look on her face truly made me smile. Earlier tonight while i was a work a man came in and got a small coffee. It cost $1.47 the man gets in his wallet and pulls out a $5 and says put the rest of that in your pocket. I can honestly say this has been one of the best days of the past 3 months.

[clintphilipespanol]

Act 20:35 "There is more happiness in giving than in receiving."

[kkthegreat]

a very important aspect which we need to consider, when you spend money on others it makes you feel better BUT THOSE WERE NOT YOUR MONEY.

[juanbarahona]

I need to say something for my English class, this video shows an experiment that tries to show that spending money on other people generates more happiness than spending it on itself, I agree because money is used as a means to socialize or help people, giving a personal satisfaction.

[WorldLady]

A great example of service to self vs. service to others! Service to self is based in ego, fear & separation consciousness. This is NOT our true nature. Anything that takes us away from our true nature make us unhappy. Service to others is based in spirit, love & oneness/unity consciousness. This IS our true nature. Anything that brings us closer to our true nature makes us happy. As happy people living from our true essence we have a higher vibration which attracts high-vibrating things to us.

[ninjabob]

The pattern I see from this is that money spent just on Things seems to be wasted. On the other hand, spending money on someone else is a rewarding social Experience. I would have thought just distinguishing between Things and Experiences would hold the answer. It's doing cool stuff rather than having cool stuff that makes me happy.

[jiyounglee]

Michael talked about how to buy happiness. He showed us some experiments, which are very impressive. We don’t need to do amazing things with our money to make ourselves happy. We can do just small, trivial things. I need to think how to spend money on others rather than myself.

[natushkatzm]

"Pay it forward" came to mind as well as an extended version of this talk.

[rachel-whem]

Spending money for someone is really important. Buying gift for your friends, your parents and someone. As see long life we must be happy.😻 I was inspired this speech.!!

[BigDaddy-hvmv]

Thank you all for the positive comments

[rightwing]

"The best money I ever spent was buying beer for my friends."

-The poet

[Thecriticguy]

I'm typing up a thesis right now on this same topic, and, I've learned from all the people that I've interviewed (giving them the option of $10 million dollars) they really have no desire for anything that would cost more than $200, 000. I related this same analogy to the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech about how it can't. I beg to differ; it can, you just have to spend it right.

[Paul-A]

Agreed, some of the experiments, such as the allegorical surveys were lacking in rigor, but the more controlled experiments where they instructed them on how to spend seem to imply the correlation.

[ALiveNoteProduction]

My literal first thought is making sure my family (including myself) are comfortable with their living status. Then donate and/or create a No Kill animal shelter. I'm pretty sure I would still be happy even though I spent some on myself.

[AndrewReeman_RemD]

I didn't find the results from this study too surprising ... but I can see interesting ground for further development. Such as noting the intentions of the people who give money and then their happiness. Do people who spend in a (selfish) socially strategic way end up being happier then those who do not spend it for a particular selfish reason?
And the difference between giving to strangers and friends?
However, I am always wary of the word happiness and how one can measure such a thing..

[joeybwalsh]

I agree 100%. Spending your disposable income on charitable means rather than personal gratification does bring about more fulfillment. However, charity is only charity if it is voluntary.