“Happiness is not in money” — this phrase is only partly true. Money can add to our spiritual well-being if it is invested by us … in a new life experience.
Psychologists from the University of San Francisco (USA) asked 12 men and women to name their latest acquisitions and describe the feelings they evoke. It turned out that everything associated with new experiences, skills (travelling, learning languages, going to the theater or a restaurant with loved ones) makes us feel much happier than buying items that satisfy only our need to possess something. “We live the present more fully, we feel a sense of community with the people who matter to us,” says Ryan Howell, Ph.D. “Experience makes us happier regardless of the amount of money spent on it and brings long-term satisfaction, in contrast to material possessions, which, as a rule, deliver acute joy only at the moment of acquisition and some time later.” Experience turns into the capital of memories, which, even after a while, energize us, allowing us to relive the bright moments of life.