Money versus love - which is more important for increasing happiness?
Scientific litsketch on boosting mental health
A survey study from 132 countries discusses two types of well-being - our general evaluation of their life (whether we are living the best or worst possible life), and our emotional wellbeing (how much positive and negative emotions we experienced in the previous day) (Diener et al., 2010).
The study shows that having more income and living in a more economically developed country increase our general evaluation of life, but they are less important for improving our emotional well-being. More important than money, having our psychological needs fulfilled increases emotional well-being.
Psychological needs are fulfilled when we are treated with respect, have friends or family that we can count on in an emergency, learn something new, and choose how we spend our time rather than being forced to do something else.
Money is important to some extent when it comes to evaluating your life positively. In fact, surveys collected over at least 10 years from 16 countries shows that those who live in countries with high economic growth report greater happiness, but only when income inequality is low (Oishi and Kesebir, 2015). Economic growth does not increase happiness in countries where income inequality is high. But understanding the importance of your psychological needs, and making sure that those needs are fulfilled each day are more important than money for improving your emotional wellbeing.
Be treated with respect by treating others with greater respect. Clothe yourself with kindness, and invest your time in building stronger relationships with people around you. Learn something new every day. Do what you do best by creating opportunities in life where you can do what you do best. Cherish the freedom you have by making sure that you choose to spend your time on things you desire. You need to nurture your own emotional well-being by taking these scientifically proven steps.
Diener, Ed, Weiting Ng, James Harter, and Raksha Arora. "Wealth and happiness across the world: material prosperity predicts life evaluation, whereas psychosocial prosperity predicts positive feeling." Journal of personality and social psychology 99, no. 1 (2010): 52.
Oishi, Shigehiro, and Selin Kesebir. "Income inequality explains why economic growth does not always translate to an increase in happiness." Psychological science 26, no. 10 (2015): 1630-1638.