Gems to Start the Year Off Right

In honor of the new year, I wanted to share with you a few of the many pearls that are being passed around as we begin 2010.

Happiness Is More Valuable Than Money

The first is from the Get Rich Slowly blog, in a post called It’s More Important To Be Happy Than To Be Rich.

Here are some of my favorite parts:

We often get caught up believing that having more money is the key to a better life.

But according to the research Tal Ben-Shahar shares in his book Happier, most of us would be better served by:

• Creating rituals around the things we love to do.
• Expressing gratitude for the good things in our lives.
• Setting meaningful goals that reflect our values and interests.
• Playing to our strengths instead of dwelling on weaknesses.
• Simplifying our lives — not just the Stuff, but the time.

And some wisdom from the experience of Get Rich Slowly blogger, J.D. Roth:

• People who set their goals around relationships or personal fulfillment tend to be happier than those whose goals are built around money and more Stuff.
• Saving too much and depriving yourself in the process can make you unhappy. Be reasonable with your savings and treat yourself along the way.
• Experiences, rather than things, incite more intense emotion that lasts longer.
• Advertising raises our expectations about what we should have, which makes us more unhappy if we don’t have those things.

What Do You Need To Be Content?

To me, the hardest lesson he mentions is this one:

True happiness comes when you learn to be content with what you have.

My late mother-in-law embodied this philosophy. She adored her apartment — the same, unchanged two-bedroom she’d had since she married 40 years ago. She relished in her daily routine and the familiarity of her neighborhood. She loved the basics in life: cooking and eating, children and family, church and friends.

Her neighbor once remarked, almost irritated, “You talk about your apartment as if it were a palace or something.” And she replied, “Because to me, it is a palace!”

As Get Rich Slowly mentions, the key to finding this happiness-inducing attitude is to figure out what is Enough. Once we determine what we need to feel happy, we need to stand our ground when we feel swayed towards dissatisfaction by friends, TV ads, or cocktail party chatter.

A Recipe for Family Happiness

Here are some of the most inspiring resolutions for parents I’ve seen (thanks to my friend, Dillonna, and Bright Horizons, where the resolutions originally appeared).

Ten Practical New Year’s Resolutions for Parents: A Modest Proposal

1. Say yes more: to spending time and doing things together.
2. Say no more: to I want, I need, everyone has it, and everyone does it.
3. Worry less: about all the large and small highly sensationalized harm that exists out there. The overwhelming odds are with you (but drive carefully – without the cell phone).
4. Listen more; talk at less: Ask what do you think? What are you feeling? Tell me about it. What would you do?
5. Negotiate less; explain more: Our kids deserve to know the thinking behind our decisions and expectations, but should not be equal partners at the bargaining table. We are the parents.
6. Read a little more: to your child, with your child, and in front of your child – books, magazines, newspapers, notes.
7. Write a little more: notes of love, recognition, encouragement, responsibility, and daily appreciation of life.
8. Expect a little more: good behavior, responsibility, manners, kindness, and all of the goodness that lies within our children.
9. Expect a little less: constant scheduling and enrichment filled days. Slow down, you move too fast. Children need a lot of slow to grow.
10. Connect more: to family, friends, the community, those less fortunate, and the natural world.

Any thoughts about these parenting ideals, or the concept that happiness is better than riches?

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You also might like:

1. How to Throw a Last-Minute New Year’s Eve Party
2. How to Start a Babysitting Co-op | Part 1
3. Sleepover Party: Really Cheap but Worth It? (Final Episode)
4. Sleepover Party: Really Cheap but Worth It?