“There are no price tags on love or happiness, but it doesn’t stop people from trying to buy them”.

Can happiness be bought? It’s a question to which most people surprisingly answer “no”. Happiness has no price tag. It is something money can’t buy. Happiness lies in the heart.

But strange as it may seem, in a study by two Princeton University researchers Daniel Kahneman, a 2002 Nobel Prize economics laureate, and Angus Deaton, past president of the American Economic Association, it was revealed that money made people more satisfied with their lives overall.

Happiness comes with a US$75,000 price tag. Less money means less happiness, but more money does not help.

People never stop trying to buy happiness. An ancient Roman proverb says, “Money is like sea water. The more you drink, the thirstier you become.”

A man who believes his happiness lies in status or rank will pursue it at any cost.

How often do we hear of people throwing away their money to secure a governmental top post? Once they secure the power, it’s hard for them to get rid of it. They hold it closer and are afraid of losing it. It becomes an infectious addiction.

People tend to keep looking for the things they don’t have because they believe that if they have them, they will find complete happiness. Sometimes, such drive becomes a fantasy that corrupts their well-being.

Once they get them, they find that the things they are after don’t give the happiness they expected. It’s because they make comparisons with the wrong ideals. Inappropriate comparisons will lead us to being unhappy.

Each individual has his/her own balanced and proportionate happiness. It is how we identify, understand and are content with our own special ingredients that define our happiness.

Let us say if we compare our bodies with those of supermodels, our intelligence with those of geniuses, our bank accounts with those of billionaires, our jobs with those of celebrities, our aging partner with those of youngsters, or our house with those of social media tycoons, then it will probably ruin our perception of happiness. But if we’re a little bit wiser, and choose to see our lives in a more realistic light, we will recognize just how much we have to be happy about.

So you may agree or disagree that happiness has a price tag. One thing is for sure, only you yourself can measure your level of happiness. Do you dare to name your price tag for happiness?

Herlina
Jakarta

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