Check out Antartica in the month of January. One of the neat snorkling ops is just off an island formed by an active volcano (warms the local waters). Some of the cruise boats are leaving the atlantic service area and moving to the pacific service areas. You can combine revisiting both sides of SA if you wish too.
I've GOT IT! I'd buy 5 million state lottery tickets, so I could make some real money!!!!!! << not me
Just how did they manage to objectively determine the amount of happiness that was being felt? If it was a questionaire type thing, I would have a sneaking suspicion that many of them answered "very happy", or something to that effect, because they felt that, with all their money, they should be happy.
axe, I take it this topic's somewhat close to your heart, given how many replies you have on it. However, I really think you are oversimplifying matters here. We all realize that it's not the $ figure sitting in your bank account that makes you happy, but it represents for you. For you, freedom is the biggie. But freedom to do what? Why is freedom important? What is it about having all this freedom that you believe is going to be the source of such never ending happiness? I really think these are the kinds of questions that need to be answered; the feelings behind the feelings. ("psychobabble" haters, tune out). See, without an answer to such a question, don't you think that sooner or later, even with all your riches and all your vaunted freedom, I think you are bound to find yourself wondering, "is this all there is?" If having riches alone was enough, why do we continue to see the rich continually trying to get richer? How many do you know that simply decided, "Ok. This is enough."? (I'm sure there are some.) You get the new house, new car, new whatever, you travel the world, you "fun" yourself to death. What then? Go back to working (and I'm not just talking in a J.O.B) so that you can "upgrade" the freedom? Or to upgrade the kind of fun? Or that new house you and your wife saw the other week, the one you just know is gonna make you so happy? Without knowing and understanding what it is you truly what to feel, what it is you truly value in life, your like a rat running on the treadmill. I've thought long and hard about these things, and I can't really say I've come up with any definitive answer. Maybe there isn't one. But the answer that keeps coming back to me most often is to do with the relationships; the quality of my relationships with other people; love; making a contribution to others. These are the things I truly derive the most pleasure from. And I think the reason they keep coming back to me is that we can never really give or get enough of those kinds of feelings, can we? I have found that no matter how many times I have "really connected" with another person -- a friend or a lover -- that it's as exhilirating as the first time. Or every time I feel understood -- really understood -- by someone, that it continues to be such a great feeling. So I think I have a pretty good idea of what I want out life and why I want it. Your, or someone else's, answer may very well differ, and that's fine. But I'm convinced that it's the only to find "true" happiness, or the "happiness from within" that others mentioned.
American, or "western", yep I would tend to agree. I don't think there is really any doubt that Americans (especially) and "westerners", in general, have been sold on the idea of "someday", "somehow", "somewhere", "something", then I'll be happy. What that really amounts to, for most people, is work, work and more work. Money, money, money. Real GDP is up what, 4? 5? times since 1950? Are Americans really feeling 5 times happier than they were 50 years ago? Why not? They sure are a hell of a lot richer. Has all that vaunted consumer choice really made things that much better? So much better that, as vanilla points out, every last drip of spare time has to be rinsed out of our schedules? So much better that without even taking the time to think about it we mindlessly relegate things like family, friendship, community spirit to make room for more work? Listen to (or read) all the professional speakers on the "Success" circuit. They all parrot the same message: success=rich. Who would be the "successful" people that come to mind if I asked you to think of them? I would bet my bottom dollar that just about every single one of them is considered successful because they've got a lot of money. Who are the "success" stars paraded on TV, media, or by advertisers? Invariably people that are making a lot of money, or, at least, more money than you. It's almost like it's inconceivable to regard someone as a success unless he's got a 7 figure bank balance to prove it. If leisure and freedom are so important to us, why do we, as societies (I'm from Argentina, living in Australia), do so little to pursue it? Why do we simply accept, uncritically, the (illogical) notion that more work, more work, more work is going to (somehow) give us more leisure? I have a brother who is a VP at an ivestment bank in London, routinely putting in 100 hr weeks. 100 hours! I can't even get him on the phone to wish him a happy birthday. His case is hardly unique; it's common practise in IBanking, and other areas like corporate law and consulting. In fact, the trend of working hours is up, not down, over the last 30 years in all fields of work. Just how much time has all the wonderful "time saving" technology actually saved us? Saved us time to do what? More work! Americans love to brag, I get the impression, of how much better their economy is doing than Europe's. Facts like Americans working, on average, 9 weeks more (when you total up the hours) per year than Europeans get scant attention, or are totally ignored or laughed at. (As I'm sure this post will be.)
I have thought long and hard on this. It's not that hard to figure out. I review my life and I ask myself, what things in the past truly make me happy??? My list looking something like this: ( No particular order ) 1) Certain time consuming activities 2) Friends/relationships 3) Worry free living Having enough money so that I don't have to work would take care of #1 and #3 to a large extent. Having all that free time also allows me to spend much more time on #2. Think of this. What percentage of your life do you spend having FUN instead of working? Right now, what I enjoy doing most I can only do on about 20 weekend a YEAR. (Weather dependent sport). Having the freedom from work gives me the time to partake in these activies 10 fold easily. You said: "You get the new house, new car, new whatever, you travel the world, you "fun" yourself to death. What then? " If you read my previous posts you would see that the study I was refering to clearly says that the happiness levels assocaited with getting a bunch of money fades with time because humans seem to get used to their wealth. Then most, need MORE, to regain that happiness. This however is not me. A few million would get me all the stuff I would need to have a ton of fun. If I ever DID get bored of my current super fun activities, I would at least have the time to find some new ones, which would not be the case with a full time job. What makes people happy is a very inidividual thing. I've identified what brings me the most happiness, and money would give me the freedom from work required to pursue those things which make me happier for a much larger percentage of my lifetime than the current FRACTION of my lifetime which I am living now. You mentioned that relationships and contributions are high on your list. If I dropped a billion dollars in your lap tommorrow, would you not have far more time to spend on your relationshups which you value so deeply? Would you not have more to contribute to help others which makes you feel so good? peace axeman
You are a freaking kid at college. No one thinks long and hard at your age. Give it up. You have no idea what real life is.
you equate fun with happiness.....hapinness cant be bought period, trust me no one sells it , I even checked Amazon.com...I dont care how much free time you have or how much money you spend on any sport that makes your heart beat in the end ur happiness will only come from within......
Maybe some people of college age do think about stuff. I think freedom is the underlying foundation for living a good life. For me I fouind that money was the way to leverage myself into a kind of freedom that has been very satisfying and uplifting. Nowadays I live a 1000 days at at time, but during the years after getting my degrees, I found that being able to choose what I wanted to do with my mind and time that I met a lot of like minded people. I feel that others who have what it takes to do what they want are the kind of people that reinforce and stimulate others to do well. Freedom lets me enable and manifest my thoughts into action to deal with what is on the table where I live and where I go. It comes down to being able to translate beliefs into behavior without constraints. I also feel very strongly that I can take the time to refine my beliefs and actually aquire beliefs that are there to consider. Freedom has been in my space since I became aware of making money through investing when I was in grad school. If a person creates resources continually in excess of needs and wants, then there is a continuing freedom to associate with others to contribute to the wellness of things in your belief system. I had a pleasant breakfast, reviewed two gardens for irrigation, checked the progress of our apples, and grapes and some citrous. After that we looked at flagstones (90 pieces of 6 to 10 sq ft each) to see that they fit into our decking renewal along the poolside. We did joke about the mayor's outreach budget, since we had contact with him saturday, monday and tuesday on three separate items: neighbor hood improvements, CERT, and the EZ project in Tucson where HUD was sponsoring an interagency review. The mayor commented on our presence in his welcoming speech to the HUD EZ conference on Tuesday and on Monday we were on TV for receipt of our CERT awards where my nickname is "duct tape". Today my best stock is ROXI (an anomaly in my system because of its past performance). I am watching the P, V relation being confirmed by my group of indicator stocks ( CSCO SUNW INTC ORCL MSFT LU DELL and GE). They are all running low volume and up except for SUNW which is higher volume and down. Most people will not see the value of this in this market. I read this thread before posting. I think the equivalent of getting 5 million bucks in a lump is simply having an investment operation that does the same equivalent thing continually. I found this out in grad school in 1956. With freedom everyone can have a lot to show for their lives.