The Happiness Trade

I read an article this morning that was interesting to me because it followed a conversation Greg and I were having while enjoying breakfast in bed.  On the front page of the local section it said 4 nurses were laid off at St. Charles.  I made the comment that my choice in Dec. to drop one day off my schedule was probably not smart considering what was going on...but the choice has made me soooo happy.  Sure it has made money a little tighter...sure I now pay for my a portion of my health benefits...but...I am sooooo much happier.

Which leads me to the next article I read.  If you were Sandra Bullock...would you take the deal?  That is would you trade in fame and fortune to have a honest, happy marriage.  Or is winning the Oscar, having fame, an ok exchange to put up with a personal blow?

Apparently Oscar winners live statistically 4 years longer than nominees (I know some statistician is keeping tract of all this usless information) but..."marital happiness is far more important than anything else in determining personal well-being."

If you have a successful marriage, it doesn't matter how many professional setbacks you endure, you will be reasonably happy.  If your marriage is a bummer no matter how many career triumphs you record, you will remain significantly unfulfilled.

In the last decade researchers have been studying happiness.  The result, "worldly success has shallow roots while interpersonal bonds permeate through and through."

People believe that the richer you are the happier you are.  In fact poor nations who become middle class nations become happier.  But once basic necessities are met, future income is lightly connected to happiness.

In fact the United States which has become even richer in the last 50 years has produced no measurable increase in overall happiness.

I liked the information in this next paragraph...

"People get slightly happier as they climb the income scale, but this depends on how they experience growth.  Does wealth inflame unrealistic expectation?  Does it destavilize settled relationships?  Or does it flow from a virtuous cycle in which an interesting job procudes hard work that in turn leads to more interesting opportunities?"

"The daily activites most associated with happiness are sex, socializing after work and having dinner with others."  According to one study, joining a group that meets even just once a month produces the same happiness gain as doubling your income!

"According to one study being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year!"

"The overall impression from this reseach is that economic and professional success exists on the surface of life, and that they emerge out of interpersonal relationships, which are much deeper and more important. the second impression is that most of us pay attention to the wrong things.  Most people vastly overestimate the extent to which more money would improve our lives."

Which brings me full circle.  I am very content to have dropped a day off my schedule. I love having breakfast in bed rather than going out for breakfast. I wouldn't trade Greg for an increase in my salary...even a $100,000 or an Oscar.  And...I love the Sunday paper!