The Happy Movie

I watched this on Netflix:
http://www.thehappymovie.com/

Good documentary. There was nothing there that we don't already know, but it was interesting to have scientists and other lay it out clearly.

It turns out, as we already well know, that money does not buy happiness. I think a recent study in the USA showed that after 75K (yearly income) that money makes little or no difference at all in general happiness (welfare of the people).

According to the movie, it is really ONLY helping others and appreciation of nature which are the major contributors to happiness. As one expert in the movie says, they studied brains and the chemistry and the shot of hormones and chemicals which is released when you help someone is exactly the same as sniffing cocaine, etc. (that is, the dopamine high).

According to all these experts, it is compassion and empathy that makes humans human and we are programmed to feel pleasure when we engage in these behaviors and pain when we do not.

It's not the whole story, but a big piece of the pie. If you have netflix, it's worth the watching.

That explains part of the success of Hearth.com.

Money doesn't buy me happiness. Money buys me the stuff that makes me happy.