275-Is Capitalism Hurting Our Happiness?

When capitalism and hustle lead to despair and anxiety.  Is this where we are headed? If so, how do we turn this train around?   

 

Transcript:

 

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and I just ran across an article that was just published a couple days ago, where Dr. Laurie Santos, researcher and Yale professor opines on the fact that there are hundreds of happiness books, yet so many people still feel unhappy.  She says it’s “because it takes work” to be happy.  But what was fascinating about this news piece is that Dr. Santos blames the lack of happiness in America on “the ‘capitalism culture' … that’s telling us to buy things and a hustle-achievement culture that destroys [her] students in terms of anxiety."    

 

I read this and felt like an Oprah ah-ha moment was falling into my lap.  The last 5 or so episodes we have been talking about satisfaction, consumerism and wanting less but our minds playing tricks on us and thinking whatever it is we want will make us happy.  

 

In episodes 178-182 we dove into how our minds play tricks on us.  We almost can’t help it, we really do believe the thing we want will make us happy.  Our instincts are just totally misguided when we are really thinking about lasting happiness.  Which is why we have to really take a step back when making decisions and think about it more. 

 

And just to blow your mind, this same article, linked in the show notes, said that a “recent paper by Matt Killingsworth, a senior fellow at the Warton School at the University of Pennsylvania who studies happiness in humans, showed if you increase from income from $100,000 to $600,000, your happiness goes up from a score from 64 to 65, according to the news outlet.” 

 

Which quite honestly is like nothing.  So many experts in the field of lasting happiness say that gratitude and kindness will increase your happiness way more.   

 

I mean, I won't turn down an extra ½ a million bucks, but the researchers value that against what you need to do to earn that money.  Less sleep, less quality time with the people you love. So today, I invite you to write a gratitude or do something kind for someone and take control of boosting your own happiness, and you might just boost someone else's too.

 

 

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