The greatest happiness brings into our lives is not a lot of money, and the ability to share the money, even if the funds on our bank accounts are not many. Such a conclusion was made by Harvard researchers, led by Professor Michael Norton on the basis of studies conducted recently.
The trick is in the human perception of wealth - when a person gives money to those who need them most himself, it increases the subjective feeling of self-sufficiency. The result is increased self-esteem and, consequently, the level of happiness and life satisfaction, because donations are considered in our society is one of the ways of approved show own financial well-being, in which people tend to react strongly positive.
Sam Norton describes the experience this way: "If I have enough to share, I'm not so hopeless." Most of the extra money - it is a signal of the success of not only the public, but for ourselves. Despite the fact that the money gets smaller, you feel that you have a lot of them, because they can share.
During the research, experts conducted a survey, people from different countries, different ages, beliefs and social groups talked about how they spend the extra money received by them accidentally and unexpectedly, what part they spend on their own needs, and what - to charity, and then subjectively evaluated their financial situation. The average amount of casual income was $ 1500, but those who spent on charity even a small part, evaluated their income and level of happiness in life higher than those who did not.
Simply put, each $ 500, departed on donations, increase their own subjective sense of wealth as much as every $ 10,000 of annual income.
By the way, people who spend life to help other people, too, tend to feel happier than those who spend their lives only for himself and his pleasure.
via factroom.ru