Finding happiness in all the right places

Front and center in the NYTimes Business section on Sunday is an article on money and happiness. Your Money or Your Life came out in 1992 at a time when marketers had cleverly severed our brains from our wallets. We were promised that products bring happiness but rarely questioned the assumption. The book was a wake up call for millions. It was updated and reissued in 2008 – at the launch of the recession. Seems the economic downturn plus  the upturn in the new science of happiness is getting our heads screwed on right. Finally. Article author Stephanie Rosenbloom reports marketing analysts say that… “the next generation that comes along is not so interested in spending way their predecessors did. The are adopting a different attitude of living more simply.” In the next weeks I’ll be unpacking the information in the article… and adding new. In the Fall I’ll begin my series on Happiness 101– the science, politics, practice and purpose of happiness. It’s gaining legitimacy as the new bottom line, and the neuroscience is helping that happen. And Bhutan (see older posts on Gross National Happiness GNH)

3 Comments

  1. Hi there Vicki, Monique, and Mark! 🙂

    My partner Tammy and I were featured in the NYTimes article you mentioned above and we wanted to leave a comment and let you know that YMOYL was one of the best tools we used in our downsizing process. We look forward to your upcoming series on Happiness 101! Thank you for all of your fantastic work! You are a tremendous inspiration in our lives. Whenever Tammy’s blog readers ask for financial advice we always recommend YMOYL. Cheers! 🙂

    1. Mutual fan-dom! Congrats on the NYTimes article and also on the Today Show. Your story is worth a thousand research reports gathering dust in the effort to turn the world’s gaze from the Home Shopping Network to Home. Period. With self. With others. In community. I’d love to talk with you both about the Happiness Course. Write info@yourmoneyoryourlife.info and it’ll get to me.

  2. I checked this book out of the library when it was new and it clarified my relationship with money especially how important it is to support your values with your money. My inclination toward the non-material things; education, travel, etc. This should be assigned
    reading for everyone upon graduation from high school.

    R S Hoffmann

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