SHOPPING FOR HAPPINESS
Are you shopping for that happiness but end up being broke?
Being a professional leadership and behavioural speaker, an intriguing topic that I speak about most often is about discovering what would allow us to be at our psychological best every day.
And often, we can’t run away from this simple word, happiness. Almost everything we do is about arriving at happiness. We have many ways to be happy, and this includes shopping. In a study conducted by the University of Michigan on the benefit of retail therapy, making a purchase decision can help to reduce sadness. And sadness, in a nutshell, is when things happen outside of our control and arrive at an undesired outcome.
So, what happened after that? We look for ways to regain control, and shopping, that is, making a purchase decision, helps us to recover some form of control. But it only helps in reducing sadness temporarily.
A study has surfaced that those who pursue material possession tend to be less satisfied and experience fewer positive emotions every day. Shopping becomes more of a stressor rather than a positive multiplier.
The question is no longer about how we can shop for happiness, but how we can invest in happiness, and be mindful of a strategy that is more sustainable and duplicable so that we do not end up being broke. There is three happiness food for thought strategy for you
1. Invest in Experience
Psychologists discovered that people experience a new sense of happiness and positive emotion when they invest in an experiential purchase. That is, the vacation we took, lunch treats we give to our friends and colleagues, and offering both time and effort in volunteer work for a cause you believe.
An experiential purchase allows us to re-live that same moment of happiness repeatedly without expiring. People experience somewhat newfound joy whenever they recalled that happy experience, even though it was the same vacation, even though it happened several months earlier.
2. Invest in Simplicity
The common saying of doing more with less is outdated. The reality is that the more we do more with less, the less we do, and we have no more. While having more options is a good thing, but when we have excessive options, it can even lead to becoming a clinical depression issue.
Simplicity helps us to declutter our lives and focus on what is more important. Your energy goes to where your focus is and what you focus on, whether negative or positive, expand. But what is more important in investing in simplicity is that you free up more time for yourself.
Happiness is when you have worked hard and created time for yourself to enjoy your harvest, with a clear focus on what you want, without being cluttered up with the expectation of the world. Most people are busy getting busy, and for a tinge of happiness, ended up shopping for short-term pleasure and then returning to their cluttered lives, and the cycle continues – I called it the rat in a lab life.
3. Invest in Flexibility
Letting go of the need to always be in control builds your flexibility. Nothing is predictable to the dot in our world. In my work, I have seen countless people wanting to control things they can’t control and ended up being frustrated and burn-out, and this frustrates the people around them too.
Being flexible does not mean not having a goal but being flexible enough to discover new ways around them. You will realize that by planning less, you are conscious of more unforeseen opportunities that might just come your way. Be flexible.
Stop shopping for happiness but invest in one. Be experiential, simple, and flexible. Each day. Everyday.
Article by:
Joseph Wong is an award-winning Leadershipship Transformation Coach and Influence without Authority Expert and Author. Email to influence@traininggearasia.com
