Recipe for a Happy Life: Less Materialism, More Gratitude

[n2doc]

BY TOM JACOBS

Picture the most materialistic people you know. They don’t seem very happy, do they? They certainly have more stuff than most of us, and we’re constantly bombarded with messages that equate stuff with bliss. So what’s missing from their lives?

Newly published research suggests a clear answer: Gratitude.

“High materialists are less happy in part because they find it harder to be grateful for what they have,” writes a research team led by Baylor University psychologist Jo-Ann Tsang. The researchers argue that, because of this low level of gratitude, “basic psychological needs (which allow) individuals to thrive” go largely unmet.

In the journal Personality and Individual Difference, Tsang and her colleagues describe a study in which 246 college students took a multifaceted survey. First, their level of materialism was measured by their response (on a scale of “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree’) to such statements as “My life would be better if I owned certain things I don’t have.”

Their dispositional gratitude and overall life satisfaction were determined by their reaction to two more sets of statements, such as “I have so much in life to be thankful for.”

more

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/recipe-happy-life-less-materialism-gratitude-76597/

[Blue_Tires]

1. kick for later

[raccoon]

2. But--but--if people didn't run out and buy the latest gadget and try to keep up with

the Rodrigueses, it would hurt the economy!

[Igel]

3. If people continue to sit in class and feel bad because they

can't afford the latest gadget, it'll continue to hurt their education. Stress is bad for memory and learning. I have kids who can't buy a $0.25 pencil who save up for $150 trendy shoes to replace the formerly trendy shoes they got two months ago.


The other thing that's important is curiosity (we can call it mindfulness if it's local and immediate, but let's not let the Buddhists dictate a one true meaning for the lexeme).

Gratitude can help free the mind from materialism and greed. Curiosity can engage it so it doesn't wander back, like a dog returning to its vomit (or idle hands finding mischief).

[NuclearDem]

4. Anyone else immediately think Thanksgiving/Black Friday?

Day of giving thanks for what we have, followed immediately by stomping all over each other to get something we don't?