Tag Archives: Michael Andreas

Happiness and Success

Happiness and Success

A growing number of researchers around the world are studying the relationships of happiness, success, and modern lifestyle. Some nations on earth are even adopting a measure of gross domestic happiness. After years of accumulating information from people of all walks of life, the results surprised some researchers, and are in fact contrary to the images of happiness and success that are so popular in the media.

How many times have we been shown images of expensive cars, fine jewelry, big houses, young beautiful and rich people, and associated those images with happiness? In fact coveting those images so much that they became a goal in our minds, and we are sure that possessing such things or being such a person would certainly mean being happy.

After decades of sampling data from various sources including interviews with the rich and famous, psychiatric physicians, married couples of many decades, single adults of both genders and all ages, and the self professed happy people; an interesting trend was identified.

The possession of ‘the finer things in life’, was never cited as a true aspect of happiness. As a matter of fact, almost universally, the true measure of happiness in the lives of those studied, was the quality and quantity of sex, and the quality and quantity of fun.

How interesting is it, that we are educated by the media to believe that possessing expensive items brings happiness, when in fact it almost never does? Instead, having more and better sex, along with generally having more fun, were much more significant to real happiness.

The most happily married couples are typically those with high levels of attraction for each other and fulfilling sex lives, regardless of their financial situation. While the unhappy couples, site lack of intimacy and attraction, also regardless of finances. So why is it that some people who possess much wealth have less fulfilling sex lives than those who possess less wealth? This is not to say that wealth is unfulfilling, for many who possess great wealth also have great sex lives.

The interesting part is that happiness was directly related to fun and sex, rather than to the possession of wealth. What is it about the people who had fun and sex in their lives that differentiated them from those who did not? According to researchers it had no correlation to the level of wealth.

If wealth does not determine happiness, or sex or fun; what does? The answer is character. Character is comprised of presence; (mind in the present moment), integrity; (strength of preferences) and self esteem; (the sum total of your inner resources – intellect, free will and emotional energy).

The sum of your character attracts people and oportunity into your life; the greater the sum of character, the greater the sum attraction. The greater the attractive force in your life, the greater the quality of your personal relationships, friendships and professional relationships.

WebMD – Sex better than money: http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/features/sex-and-happiness

National Bureau of Economic Research: http://www.nber.org/papers/w10499