"Richness" comes from within?

Kudos to Mr Wang who helped me to see things from another angle.

With reference to scientific studies somemore, how to dispute? ;)

Perhaps it could be best captured in the following sentences:

1. Your digital camera; your handphone; your 19-inch monitor; your most expensive shirt; your watch. Did they bring you happiness when you first purchased them? Quite possibly, yes. Do they still bring happiness now? Nope. The novelty has worn off.
2. And as for money curing the blues? Sure, a $1,000 increase in salary lifts the spirits. But it's more like a caffeine buzz than a higher plateau of enlightenment.
3. Or, as the authors of "How to Be Happy, Dammit" say in Life Lesson #40: "It's not 'he who dies with the most toys wins.' It's 'he who has the most time to play with his toys and the most fun playing with them who wins.'"

Looking back to my time in school, in NS. I really enjoyed them the most. My salary during NS? $325 per month.

Fast forward to now. I'm typing this entry alone in the house. I have a PC, SCV, xbox in my room but somehow these can't replicate the similiar sense of happiness.

Money can buy you convenience and luxury but that does not necessarily equate to happiness.

So how can one find happiness? I can't go back to high school or NS again so consider the following:

How to be happy

What does matter? According to the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center:

• People with five or more close friends (excluding family members) are 50% more likely to describe themselves as "very happy" than respondents with fewer.
  
  
• A loving marriage: 40% of married American adults report themselves as "very happy," versus 26% of those who are not married.
  
  
• Good health.
  
  
• A connection with a congregation such as your community or a religious group.

On the other hand, a survey of 800 college alumni showed that classmates who valued high income, job success, and prestige more than close friends and love were twice as likely to be "fairly" or "very" unhappy."

Happy people, it seems, concentrate on their own successes and don't compare themselves -- their income, their family time -- with others. They do not judge others or dwell on negative feelings. If they do dwell on the better performance of a colleague or friend, it is to learn ways for self-improvement.

"By far the greatest predictor of happiness in the literature is intimate relationships," Sonja Lyubomirsky, a researcher at the University of California-Riverside, told a Chicago Tribune reporter. "It's definitely not money."