Are You Happy?

On a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the lowest and 10 the highest, how happy would you say you are? And what would it take to make you significantly happier? My guess is, for many people, the answer has something to do with having more money.

If you had unlimited money, what would you do with your life? Would you travel the world? And would that, in turn, shift your happiness rating dramatically upward?

Before answering that, consider this: How many states in your own country have you visited? And after those journeys, how much happier did you actually feel? Sure, interstate travel isn't the same as traveling the globe, but they share a few things in common such as new environments, fresh experiences, unfamiliar faces, and often, stunning tourist attractions. So think back: did those state-to-state travels leave you noticeably happier, or do you believe traveling the world would do the trick?

Unless there is something specific about your environment serving as an impediment to your happiness that you need to get away from, how do you think moving away, regardless how far away, would make a difference?

As the TV character Tony Soprano put it - "There's no geographical solution to an emotional problem."

Sure, more money can bring comfort and access to experiences once out of reach. But eventually, the excitement wears off. The novelty fades. And we begin to crave something new, again. That constant reaching can dull the glow of our achievements, and we often find our happiness slipping back down after the initial high.

It is no secret that even significantly financially successful people still struggle with unhappiness for whatever personal reasons.

And something else to consider is that there are other factors to the equation. Your happiness isn't dependent on just you alone. You might actually be very fine with your life, so much so that you would describe yourself as very happy indeed, but then you still have people who you care about, whether because they are related to you by blood or because you share a profound bond of affection, and, thus, seeing them unhappy and being unable to help them could mar your own happiness still.

The conclusion here being that true happiness across all categories seems elusive, or, when achieved, fleeting.