I am currently researching happiness and its relationship to wealth. So far, I've looked at statistics that tie together money and happiness. These stats have shown there may not be a direct relationship between these two factors, especially looking at countries like South Korea. Countries like Bhutan and some western European nations have taken their country's happiness so seriously that they are using Happiness Meters instead of GDP to measure their success as a nation. Many studies I have researched also seem to prove that happiness is subjective to the socio-economic state of those around you. Homeless people in India are happier than those in America because the standard they compare themselves against is lower. People would choose to make $50,000 a year while everyone else is making $25,000 rather than an option that would leave them poorer than their peers despite making a substantial salary. All of these factors tie in to the true source of happiness, which I have yet to research.
I want to focus on these aspects of happiness in upcoming research:
- Can you train your mind to be happy?
- Can your family limit/expand your happiness?
- Happiness and Criminal Rehabilitation
- Does everyone deserve to be happy? Is that possible to achieve?
Referring to your questions, I studied happiness last year with Mr. Chokshi and I found that it is possible to train your mind to be happy. You can do this through something called neuroplasticity. If you want to learn more about this I suggest reading Training Your Brain to Get Happy by Aubele, Wenck and Reynolds or reading this interview with Rick Hanson, PhD
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.psychcentral.com/mindfulness/2010/03/training-your-brain-for-the-better-an-interview-with-rick-hanson-ph-d/
Thank you! That's really helpful :)
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