3187: Minimalism & Happiness Through Scientific Eyes by Lee Hughes with The Minimalists on Simple Living

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[00:00:59] It's a Minimalist Monday edition

[00:01:01] of Optimal Living Daily episode 3187.

[00:01:04] Minimalism and happiness through scientific eyes

[00:01:07] by Lee Hughes with theminimalist.com.

[00:01:10] And I'm your narrator Justin Mollick.

[00:01:12] I'm gonna keep this intro minimal for Minimalist Monday

[00:01:15] so let's get right to it as we optimize your life.

[00:01:22] Minimalism and happiness through scientific eyes

[00:01:25] by Lee Hughes with theminimalist.com.

[00:01:29] Minimalism and happiness.

[00:01:31] Is there evidence of a connection?

[00:01:33] Can money and materialism bring happiness?

[00:01:36] Can minimalism bring happiness?

[00:01:39] P. Brickman in the 70s conducted a study

[00:01:41] in which he investigated the level of happiness

[00:01:44] of people whose financial dreams had come true.

[00:01:47] He found that those who had won millions on the lottery

[00:01:50] were no happier than his control group

[00:01:52] who meet their basic needs.

[00:01:54] Money can buy short-term happiness,

[00:01:56] but you will eventually turn to your level of happiness

[00:01:59] before financial gain.

[00:02:01] This puts you in a vicious materialistic circle

[00:02:03] in which you strive to achieve long-term happiness

[00:02:06] through the constant purchase of material items, not healthy.

[00:02:10] How can you beat this vicious cycle?

[00:02:12] First, you must understand the roots of materialism.

[00:02:15] According to a study from Chaplin and John, 2007,

[00:02:18] there's a strong link between low self-esteem

[00:02:20] and materialism, usually derived early in childhood,

[00:02:23] and that low self-esteem causes materialistic tendencies.

[00:02:27] But it's not just about buying material goods for yourself.

[00:02:30] A study from Dunn in 2008 showed

[00:02:32] that it's how we spend the money

[00:02:33] that can determine how happy we feel.

[00:02:36] They go on to say, quote,

[00:02:38] while much research has examined

[00:02:39] the effect of income on happiness,

[00:02:41] we suggest that how people spend their money

[00:02:44] may be at least as important as how much money they earn.

[00:02:47] Specifically, we hypothesize that spending money

[00:02:50] on other people may have a more positive impact

[00:02:52] on happiness than spending money on oneself.

[00:02:55] Providing converging evidence for this hypothesis,

[00:02:58] we found that spending more of one's income

[00:03:00] on others predicted greater happiness

[00:03:02] both cross-sectionally

[00:03:03] in a nationally representative survey study

[00:03:06] and longitudinally in a field study of windfall spending.

[00:03:10] Finally, participants who were randomly assigned

[00:03:12] to spend money on others experienced greater happiness

[00:03:15] than those assigned to spend money on themselves, end quote.

[00:03:18] Okay, so what does this have to do with minimalism?

[00:03:21] Well, to quote Colin Wright, quote,

[00:03:23] what minimalism is really all about

[00:03:25] is reassessment of your priorities

[00:03:27] so that you can strip away the excess stuff,

[00:03:29] the possessions and ideas and relationships and activities

[00:03:33] that don't bring value to your life, end quote.

[00:03:36] With this stripping away,

[00:03:37] you find yourself doing more with less.

[00:03:40] You find you no longer waste money on,

[00:03:42] and potentially you can use this extra money

[00:03:44] or your extra time from stripping away

[00:03:46] draining relationships into more experiences.

[00:03:50] Boredom and comfort are the enemy.

[00:03:53] So is there any actual evidence for this

[00:03:55] or is this just another bullsh-t blog post

[00:03:57] just chatting random sh-t?

[00:03:59] Yes, there is evidence.

[00:04:01] Van Boven and Gielowick in 2003 conducted a national survey

[00:04:04] asking people to rate according

[00:04:06] to how happy their purchase had been.

[00:04:08] One group had bought a product, the other an experience.

[00:04:11] The results clearly showed that the group who had described

[00:04:13] and rated the purchase of an experience

[00:04:16] had higher levels of mood.

[00:04:18] Quote, do experiences make people happier

[00:04:20] than material possessions?

[00:04:22] In two surveys, respondents from various demographic groups

[00:04:25] indicated that experiential purchases,

[00:04:27] those made with a primary intention

[00:04:29] of acquiring a life experience,

[00:04:31] made them happier than material purchases.

[00:04:34] In a followup laboratory experiment,

[00:04:36] participants experienced more positive feelings

[00:04:39] after pondering an experiential purchase

[00:04:41] than after pondering a material purchase.

[00:04:44] In another experiment, participants were more likely

[00:04:46] to anticipate that experiences would make them happier

[00:04:49] than material possessions after adopting

[00:04:52] a temporally distant

[00:04:53] versus a temporally proximate perspective.

[00:04:56] The discussion focuses on evidence

[00:04:57] that experiences make people happier

[00:05:00] because they are more open to positive reinterpretations,

[00:05:03] are a more meaningful part of one's identity,

[00:05:05] and contribute more to successful social relationships,

[00:05:08] end quote.

[00:05:09] So the evidence points towards a strong link

[00:05:12] between happiness and social relationships.

[00:05:15] This comes of no surprise considering our evolution.

[00:05:18] During our evolution, we stayed in social groups.

[00:05:20] R. Dunbar suggests that this group living

[00:05:22] could have been one of the causes

[00:05:23] of the evolution of language,

[00:05:25] something that made us excel as a species.

[00:05:27] We need other people.

[00:05:29] This is what experiences give us,

[00:05:30] the opportunity to share experiences with other people

[00:05:33] while the purchase of material items

[00:05:35] can isolate you from others.

[00:05:38] What about the roles of neurotransmitters into experiences?

[00:05:41] Well, when we have new experiences,

[00:05:42] we often have excitement as we have never done it before.

[00:05:46] Once we undergo excitement, the brain releases endorphins,

[00:05:49] which are endogenous opioid peptides

[00:05:51] that function as neurotransmitters.

[00:05:53] This chemical is well known for the wellbeing state

[00:05:55] it creates in humans.

[00:05:57] Excitement caused by new experiences releases endorphins

[00:06:00] and creates a state of happiness

[00:06:02] which can be increased with minimalism

[00:06:04] by stripping away the fat

[00:06:06] and letting new worthwhile experiences in.

[00:06:09] So, does minimalism create happiness?

[00:06:12] Does it improve your life?

[00:06:14] I never said that.

[00:06:15] Minimalism is subjective for a lot of people

[00:06:18] and it would be foolish to try and pinpoint

[00:06:19] something as broad and vast as happiness into one cause.

[00:06:23] Rather, minimalism is a tool.

[00:06:26] What minimalism can do though is trip away the fat

[00:06:29] and leave you with a newfound financial freedom

[00:06:31] that you can use for new experiences,

[00:06:34] experiences that you can share and enjoy with other people.

[00:06:42] You just listened to the post titled

[00:06:44] Minimalism and Happiness Through Scientific Eyes

[00:06:47] by Lee Hughes with theminimalist.com

[00:06:50] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:07:44] Thank you to Lee, a guest writer with The Minimalists.

[00:07:47] I've definitely heard of those studies

[00:07:48] where they look at lottery winners

[00:07:50] and find that they're not happier

[00:07:52] and sometimes actually worse off than those that didn't win

[00:07:56] or led to them becoming less happy than they were before.

[00:08:00] That's not to say that money is evil

[00:08:02] or the actual cause of our problems

[00:08:05] but it's definitely not the answer.

[00:08:07] I think we know this already deep down

[00:08:08] but it's easy to get sucked into thinking things like,

[00:08:12] well if I just had X dollars I'd be happy

[00:08:15] but it just doesn't work that way.

[00:08:17] I think it was Jim Carrey that said,

[00:08:19] I think everybody should get rich and famous

[00:08:21] and do everything they ever dreamed of

[00:08:23] so they can see that it's not the answer.

[00:08:26] And we might think, well it's easy for him to say

[00:08:29] since he has a ton of money already

[00:08:31] but I think any wealthy person would probably say the same.

[00:08:35] And as for experiences,

[00:08:36] I'd say it's definitely been true in my own life.

[00:08:39] When I tracked my mood every day

[00:08:41] along with what I did that day,

[00:08:44] the best mood days were always the ones

[00:08:47] that I spent with people that I enjoyed being around,

[00:08:50] having experiences, not buying things.

[00:08:54] So a good one to think about today

[00:08:55] and as we start the week.

[00:08:57] With that, have a great start to your weekend.

[00:08:59] I'll see you tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.