LION- THE KING ----Traveling Brings More Happiness Than Any Material Wealth Studies Reveal

Money can make life easier and less stressful but it cannot bring you long-term happiness. Material wealth brings you happiness, but only temporarily. Just a few hours or days after a new purchase the pleasure and enjoyment begin to fade. As soon as you get used to your new purchase, your level of satisfaction drops and you feel compelled to go shopping again. This damaging cycle repeats itself continuously.

According to research conducted at Cornell University, there is a way to break that vicious cycle. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at the university, has revealed that people experience the same amount of happiness when they make a desired purchase as when they travel. However, the happiness you get from a purchase reduces over time, while the memories of your traveling experience will give you happiness for a much longer time.

The happiness achieved from buying something doesn’t last because adaptation is one of the enemies of happiness. In other words, you buy things to make you happy, and you succeed, but only for a short while. Soon, you adapt to the thing and need to buy another new something to replace the gap adaption brought. Traveling, on the other hand, leaves you with memories and those memories supply you with happiness hormones endlessly, every time you think of them. Dr. Gilovich said: “Your experience is a bigger part of yourself than your material goods.”

Experience is the key ingredient for maintaining happiness. As much as it may feel like your belongings are an extension of yourself, they are not because they are separate from your identity. Your travel experiences are not the same, you cannot lose them. They will always be with you in your thoughts and therefore they truly become a part of who you are. Furthermore, traveling enriches your mind. The new cultures, places, and people you meet teach you things you can use throughout life and fill you with valuable information.

Robert Waldinger, head of an 80-year old study at Harvard University, conducted a different study on happiness. The study revealed that the happiest and healthiest people were those who connected with their family, friends, community, and other people the most. On that note, when you travel you connect with so many more people than if you had just stayed home with your stuff. Your connections will strengthen with those whom you travel with. So, if you make your trip with family or friends you will come back home two peas in a pod.