Does money = happiness?

[Slooow_Jo]

My local shop opens at 6am & closes at 10pm! I popped in last night just before closing time & as always the gaffer was there, in the 3 months I've lived here I've never been into the shop & the gaffer hasn't been there. Gaffer was yawning his head off & when I commented his staff member told me that he gets up every morning at 4.30am to open the shop & is pretty much there all day every day! Apparently this guy is loaded which wouldn't surprise me...but at what cost? This is all presuming, but how the heck would he get time to spend with family? or have a hobbie or outside interest?

I do think, yes money would be nice but isn't family & fun more precious? What is the point of having thousands when your dead n gone? a ruddy good funeral??? :o/

[Beatrice35]

Not the length of your life that matters yet the quality/depth/soulfulness of your life( to live life to the fullest no matter what + to live every day as if it could be your last) + making kindness/love a priority-that makes life meaningful + when you die you will live a great legacy for others. Yet, would be fantastic if everyone had the same life expectancy all over the world for sure, yet, even in the West there are no guarantees of living to a ripe old age due to various illnesses/diseases or accidents/tragedies. To me, there appears to be a real generosity of spirits/kindness/stronger communities + smiles that could melt the hardest of hearts especially amongst the very poor particularly in developing or third world countries. Standard of living is higher as are our life expectancies in the West yet that deep Happiness somehow appears to be far less common amongst the Western World as a whole probably as there is too much emphasis on the shallow matters + a murky cloud of cynicism embraces far too many individuals. All that is precious in this life are free for us all ( family, friends, love, kindness) so agree with Slooow_Jo :-)

[123everton]

The only people I know who get depressed are the ones who have the time to be.
My Nan (God rest her soul) got bombed out during the war, she left with what she could carry, 4 kids on the floor and her husband away fighting the Germans, was she depreesed (or downhearted as it was called then) no! She did'nt have the time.
Watch "Blood Sweat And Takeaways" on B.B.C 3 (excellent show) people born into poverty, people who've tasted poverty are sworn never to experience it again, and that makes them (us) happy.
It's funny that the only people who say money is'nt everything tend to have some.
I remember twice facing being homeless due to the economy, but my experiences of poverty are nothing compared to India.
And I promise you if you offered one of those slum dwellers a job in Britain they'd work a 12 hour day for minimum wage grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Also look at how the Dalits are treated in India, they are not happy with their lot I can assure you.

[sqad617]

Bea:
"Critics allege that because GNH depends on a series of subjective judgments about well-being, governments may be able to define GNH in a way that suits their interests. In the case of Bhutan, for instance, they say that the government expelled about one hundred thousand people and stripped them of their Bhutanese citizenship on the grounds that the deportees were ethnic Nepalese who had settled in the country illegally."

In other words they are asked if they are "happy" and if they say yes, then they can stay, if not they are deported.

[sqad617]

Bea also like the Spanish Inquisition, when people were stoppde in the street and asked if they believed in God, if they said yes, they were let go BUT if they said no, then they were either put on the rack, tortured, put to do death or all three.

[sqad617]

Zac....nice one...............I think that I understood it.

[caththecrazy]

Very true Zac - I always say that my kiddiwinks will never remember how tidy the house was but rather the time we've spent playing in the garden adn making things.

Ok this morning I made my 3 year old a helicopter launch pad the fact that he said and what is that is neither here nor there - he will no doubt say in years to come that thing mum made and tried to pass off as a helicopter launchpad do you remmeber it?

[Claud.Butler]

Money doesn't bring happiness but it does grease our way along the path of life.
I've been very poor and moderately well-off. Believe me, well-off is much better.

[Beatrice35]

:-) Bea ;-)
Live in a very small house + have very little yet am very happy. Live on husbands wage + do not even receive benefits even though too ill to work at present( neuroological condition). Benefits stopped as soon as became married even though it was to a low paid chef. Hubby is now a plumber yet earns enough to pay bills yet not much is left after this + recession has hit us hard( like many many others). Yet, we are happy as we have one another. Bhutan- have heard this as the case sqad yes, however, what government is not corrupt?! Still the principle of GHP is a good one in itself. Carry on being cynical as nothing anyone says here is likely to change you guys anyhow yet wish you all well nonetheless. Peace- we can have different views yet still not become frustrated with one another OK. Actually, a big part of my happiness even before marrying soul mate was faith hand in hand with philosophy intermingled with all the best in life that happens to be free ;-) Sure is better to be in the black than in the red even if it is just keeping head above water yet happiness is really about one's attitude to life than anything else methinks. Slooow_Jo would love to hear your views:-) Kind regards, Bea :-)