This blog has discussed happiness in a few posts (here and here). We came across this column by Jonathan Clements of the Wall Street Journal titled Nine Tips For Investing in Happiness. Clements writes, “If you want to be happier, forget spending dollars — and focus on how you spend your time. Sure, a bigger house and a fancier car might briefly put a smile on your face.Yet academic studies suggest that simply amassing more stuff won’t bring a permanent increase in your happiness.”
Here is Step 4 from the piece;
“Keep your commute short. Moving into a ritzy neighborhood would be even more harmful to your happiness if it means a longer commute.
It turns out that commuting is one of life’s least pleasurable activities. While we’re usually pretty good at adapting to hardships, it’s hard to adjust to commuting because it is so unpredictable. One day, you will breeze into work. The next day, you will sit steaming in traffic for 45 minutes.
To make matters worse, a longer commute means less time for leisure. And the research says we enjoy leisure more than work.”
Some of the other steps are easy (eat a good meal) while others are a bit more complicated (get married). In all, an interesting look at influences on happiness and a few of them appear to be place related.
