Happiness, it’s that good feeling that most of us chase, but how do we find and hang on to it?
Dr Caroline West, a senior lecturer in philosophy at Sydney University, shed light on the topic at a Blackheath Philosophy Forum in May.
Speaking to the Gazette from Sydney, she said research had shown that seeking financial gain or materialistic goods was not as good for generating happiness as were relationships and activities that a person enjoyed doing.
“If you have rewarding relationships and projects that are worthwhile, then good feelings are the icing on the cake,” Dr West said.
“People who pursue and value materialistic goods are much less happy than people who pursue successful relationships.”
Seeking a higher-paid job or a pay rise wasn’t a good way to find happiness either.
“Money is an inefficient way to get happiness, it’s much more efficient to value friendships and rewarding activities,” Dr West said.
Something that had a disastrous effect on levels of happiness was long commutes by car, especially when regularly sitting in traffic, particularly pertinent for many Mountains residents who travel out of the area for work.
Dr West said often people moved to the outer suburbs, thinking the commute would be worth it for a bigger house and more space.
“Long commutes have a terrible impact on happiness – much worse than people think,” she said.
And if you’re tossing up between buying an expensive item like that shiny new sports car you’ve always wanted or going on a holiday, the holiday wins hands down.
“People adapt quite quickly to objects, they get used to it very quickly,” Dr West explained.
“Whereas memories of a lovely experience will keep giving you pleasure.”
And it was important that people learned to distinguish between things that will bring happiness and valuable experiences.
Take having children for example.
“Having children has a disastrous effect on people’s happiness, they are much less happy than people who don’t [have kids] but people think it’s an important thing to do in life,” the mother of two said.
So while people expected having kids to make them happy, that often wasn’t the case day to day, but certainly raising a family was a valued and worthwhile experience, Dr West said.
