Simple Truth for Happiness
What do you think you need to do to be happy?
It’s not that difficult.
Rather, it is very simple and easy to do.
It is to act for the happiness of others.
You may be thinking, “Is that really all there is to it?” But that’s all there is to it.
The following research shows this to be true.
Elizabeth W. Dunn, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton (2008). Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness.
Spending Money on Yourself or on Others?
In an experiment published in Science, 46 participants rated their happiness on the morning of the experimental day and were then divided into two groups.
One group will be given $5 or $20 and told to spend the money on themselves by 5:00 PM.
The other group will also be given $5 or $20 and told to spend it on a gift for someone else or a donation by 5:00 PM.
The participants are then collected again after 5:00 PM to evaluate their level of happiness.
As a result, it was confirmed that those who spent the money on others were happier on average than those who spent it on themselves.
Are Many of Us Making False Assumptions?
What is also interesting about this study is that there was no significant difference in the level of happiness whether the amount spent was $5 or $20.
On the other hand, the study also asked a different set of people to predict the level of happiness they would feel when they spent money, and the results showed the following trend.
It means that people think that they will be happier if they spend more money, and that they will be happier if they spend more money on themselves than on others.
In fact, as the results of the experiment show, spending money on others has been shown to increase happiness, so what we can say from this is that we humans may actually be making false assumptions.
Altruistic Behavior Increases Happiness
The above experiment was conducted in the U.S., but similar experiments have also been conducted in Canada and South Africa, and it has been found that altruistic behavior increases happiness regardless of economic wealth.
These are not only based on experiments, but also on personal experience, and it is certain that you will feel it more deeply if you actually try such behavior.
We Don’t Need Anything Difficult Or Complicated To Be Happy
Are you acting in an altruistic manner?
Until now, many of us may have assumed that living for ourselves would make us happy, but the truth is that it does not, and that living for others will make us happier.
This is because human beings were originally created that way as children of God, and we may have been living without realizing this for a long time.
We don’t need to do anything difficult or complicated to be happy.
All we need to do is to wish for the happiness of others, and to take action and do one or two things that we can do to achieve it.
That’s what it’s all about.