Are We Trading Our Happiness for Modern Comforts?

One of the greatest paradoxes in American life is that while, on average, existence has gotten more comfortable over time, happiness has fallen. According ...

Advertising Invites People to Cult-Like Devotion

Ad executive Douglas Atkin notes that a transformation has taken place in what's expected of the typical ad executive at a major corporation. Rather ...

The Empty Promises of Minimalism

The overwhelming international success of Japanese minimalist Marie Kondo speaks to the fatigue and disillusionment many feel in our obsessively consumerist ...

Would One Million Yen Make You Happy?

A Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, is offering to give 1,000 Twitter followers 1 million yen, or $9,000, each. Almost anybody was eligible to receive ...

Costly Bad Advice

When a bank teller accidentally deposited $120,000 in the wrong account, the account’s owners went on a shopping spree. State police said a Montoursville, ...

Famous Author Had Something Worth More than Money

In his book, John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, recounts an event that highlights the importance of contentment.

There was a party given by a billionaire ...

Tidying Wave Boon to Local Thrift Shops

Lifestyle consultant Marie Kondo has become a bona fide sensation. Through her 2011 bestseller The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and her recently ...

‘If . . . Then I’ll Be Happy!’

Psychologists tell us that our brains tend to miss-predict what will actually bring us happiness. We assume that if we achieve certain things in our life, ...

The Madness of Christmas Toys

In 1983 the Cabbage Patch Kid was the mysterious “it toy,” selling over 100 million to date. Most veterans of the great Cabbage Patch Conflict ...

Why We Become So Attached to Our Belongings

Our excessively materialistic culture has not gone unnoticed by researchers. Journalist and author Francine Russo offers a roundup of the primary research ...