“It is clear that eagerness binds us to the world with forces that are unknown to man; it prevents us from accepting the changing flow of life. We live willingly chained to a system that feeds our desire, our permanent state of dissatisfaction, and our constant want for possessions.” This is an extract of my first blog post, and I think it fits just fine with this new, though-provoking reflection.
As I was skimming through interesting articles of El Comerico, a particular headline caught my attention. It mentioned a research that explored the following idea: materialistic people are more likely to be dissatisfied with life. Indeed, being focused all the time on what you want but you don’t have impedes you from appreciating what’s around you.
For the study 246 university students were recruited; they were assessed on their degree of materialism. Several tests were taken to analyze how satisfied they were with their lives, and how grateful they are with what they have. The study suggests that there is a negative correlation between materialistic people and their level of gratitude: the more materialistic you are, the less grateful you are.
Psychologists explain that gratitude is a positive mood to show empathy with others and that turning our attention to others is good for our emotional health. In contrast, a materialistic approach makes you accumulate a bunch of things, but you never grasp what you really want since your expectations are in a constant state of change. The study concludes that the more things you buy, the less happy you are.
Although I find the El Comercio’s article fascinating –and not only because it made me think and reflect like crazy- I partially disagree with it. I think that the idea of being materialistic does have an upset on your state of happiness, but so does the idea of being a homeless guy. In my opinion, it all boils down to habits.
· Happy people hangout with happy people
Happiness is contagious. Researchers from the Framingham Hear Study studied for over 20 years individuals who were found predominantly among happy people. They discovered that the chances for these individuals to be happy in the future were highly likely.
· They smile when they have to
The smile may or may not be a common, frequent gesture: it largely depends on the individual. If you have happy thoughts a smile can be naturally formed in your face. Interestingly, a study suggests that faking a smile in an unpleasant situation can worsen the mood.
· Spending money on others
Money does not buy happiness , but apparently, when spent on others and not on yourself, happiness is increased.
· Challenge yourself
Things like learning languages or music lessons help to increase our IQ because we challenge the brain to adapt to new challenges. Having such a radical learning change (MYP-IA) has certainly made all of us more intelligent. Moreover, meeting with the expectations helps to improve our self-esteem.
There are many more habits that can make us happy, such as: laughing, sleeping, maintaining our bodies healthy, meditating, expressing gratitude, among others. But lets not forget the core of El Comercio’s article. Maybe we should look back at the past and remember Epicurus words: “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.
As I was skimming through interesting articles of El Comerico, a particular headline caught my attention. It mentioned a research that explored the following idea: materialistic people are more likely to be dissatisfied with life. Indeed, being focused all the time on what you want but you don’t have impedes you from appreciating what’s around you.
For the study 246 university students were recruited; they were assessed on their degree of materialism. Several tests were taken to analyze how satisfied they were with their lives, and how grateful they are with what they have. The study suggests that there is a negative correlation between materialistic people and their level of gratitude: the more materialistic you are, the less grateful you are.
Psychologists explain that gratitude is a positive mood to show empathy with others and that turning our attention to others is good for our emotional health. In contrast, a materialistic approach makes you accumulate a bunch of things, but you never grasp what you really want since your expectations are in a constant state of change. The study concludes that the more things you buy, the less happy you are.
Although I find the El Comercio’s article fascinating –and not only because it made me think and reflect like crazy- I partially disagree with it. I think that the idea of being materialistic does have an upset on your state of happiness, but so does the idea of being a homeless guy. In my opinion, it all boils down to habits.
· Happy people hangout with happy people
Happiness is contagious. Researchers from the Framingham Hear Study studied for over 20 years individuals who were found predominantly among happy people. They discovered that the chances for these individuals to be happy in the future were highly likely.
· They smile when they have to
The smile may or may not be a common, frequent gesture: it largely depends on the individual. If you have happy thoughts a smile can be naturally formed in your face. Interestingly, a study suggests that faking a smile in an unpleasant situation can worsen the mood.
· Spending money on others
Money does not buy happiness , but apparently, when spent on others and not on yourself, happiness is increased.
· Challenge yourself
Things like learning languages or music lessons help to increase our IQ because we challenge the brain to adapt to new challenges. Having such a radical learning change (MYP-IA) has certainly made all of us more intelligent. Moreover, meeting with the expectations helps to improve our self-esteem.
There are many more habits that can make us happy, such as: laughing, sleeping, maintaining our bodies healthy, meditating, expressing gratitude, among others. But lets not forget the core of El Comercio’s article. Maybe we should look back at the past and remember Epicurus words: “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.