In a largely money oriented society today, people are often times driven directly or indirectly by money to pursue goals because they see the potential to be happy. However, it is commonly held by psychologists that money cannot buy happiness. The debate on the relationship between money and happiness has been a highly contested one in part due to contradictory data results and evidence. On one end of the spectrum, a person’s circumstance such as economic well-being plays little in determining a person’s happiness. On the other end, happiness can be created through money. Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, a father-son psychologist duo, state that “the societies with the highest life satisfaction are wealthy ones, such as Ireland and Denmark”
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According to Martha C. Nussbaum, a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University, activity “is so closely linked to relevant activities that it cannot be pursued on its own” (Parfitt and Skorczewski 106; Nussbaum 110). However, the activities have to be personally meaningful, that is, they have to be activities done in a certain way that brings about happiness. An activity is meaningful if it brings about happiness for the person doing that activity and is “worth doing for its own sake even though it may have no consequence outside itself” (Csikszentmihalyi 149). What is defined as a meaningful activity varies from person to person but may include activities such as building relationships and bonding with family. Affluent people who engage in the wrong activities would be less happy than those who engage in meaningful ones. Likewise, poor people who engage in the right activities can also be happy even if they are more restricted in terms of what activities they can engage in. This demonstrates how the activities that a person, poor or rich, partakes in can lead to either unhappiness or happiness. However, understanding what activities to engage in requires an element of self-reflection which is a process of the …show more content…
Everybody holds different definitions of happiness which people realize through self-reflection. Wealthy people who understand what makes them happy would utilize their money in a way that promotes their happiness, whether it be through buying a plane ticket to spend time with family, “collecting modern art, or…rent[ing] old movies” (Rubin 293). As Gretchen Rubin, author of the blog The Happiness Project, puts it, “Money, spent wisely, can support happiness goals of strengthening relationships, promoting health, having fun, and all the rest” (Rubin 297). This applies to poor people as well in that they can be happy if their definition of happiness is reasonable and achievable. This definition is realized through the process of self-reflection and shows that the mind is ultimately responsible for the choices we make and the activities that we partake in. Although activity does explain why the poor may be happy while the rich may be unhappy, the mind, through self reflection, is responsible for engaging in the meaningful activities from which happiness can be derived from. Self-reflection is important in understanding what is truly meaningful to oneself. Nussbaum explains that one should all be “relentless critics of their cultures’ dominant understandings of happiness” (Nussbaum 117). Without
According to Martha C. Nussbaum, a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University, activity “is so closely linked to relevant activities that it cannot be pursued on its own” (Parfitt and Skorczewski 106; Nussbaum 110). However, the activities have to be personally meaningful, that is, they have to be activities done in a certain way that brings about happiness. An activity is meaningful if it brings about happiness for the person doing that activity and is “worth doing for its own sake even though it may have no consequence outside itself” (Csikszentmihalyi 149). What is defined as a meaningful activity varies from person to person but may include activities such as building relationships and bonding with family. Affluent people who engage in the wrong activities would be less happy than those who engage in meaningful ones. Likewise, poor people who engage in the right activities can also be happy even if they are more restricted in terms of what activities they can engage in. This demonstrates how the activities that a person, poor or rich, partakes in can lead to either unhappiness or happiness. However, understanding what activities to engage in requires an element of self-reflection which is a process of the …show more content…
Everybody holds different definitions of happiness which people realize through self-reflection. Wealthy people who understand what makes them happy would utilize their money in a way that promotes their happiness, whether it be through buying a plane ticket to spend time with family, “collecting modern art, or…rent[ing] old movies” (Rubin 293). As Gretchen Rubin, author of the blog The Happiness Project, puts it, “Money, spent wisely, can support happiness goals of strengthening relationships, promoting health, having fun, and all the rest” (Rubin 297). This applies to poor people as well in that they can be happy if their definition of happiness is reasonable and achievable. This definition is realized through the process of self-reflection and shows that the mind is ultimately responsible for the choices we make and the activities that we partake in. Although activity does explain why the poor may be happy while the rich may be unhappy, the mind, through self reflection, is responsible for engaging in the meaningful activities from which happiness can be derived from. Self-reflection is important in understanding what is truly meaningful to oneself. Nussbaum explains that one should all be “relentless critics of their cultures’ dominant understandings of happiness” (Nussbaum 117). Without