By Brian McKay

Happiness is the foremost goal in life. Money, fame and power are nothing. If people can have one thing, they eventually realize that it just comes down to happiness. That’s it.

So what creates happiness? Studies, data and observations have indexed all of the variables and come up with these few things.

There is a sweet spot with income. It is $75,000 a year. Your level of happiness trends up the fastest with income to that point. After that, happiness and income start to drift apart. While happiness still goes up with income for a while, it doesn’t go up nearly as fast as before that $75,000 mark.

$75,000 a year also correlates with the happiness and health of your children. Lower than $75,000 can indicate struggle and a reduced focus on them while over $75,000 can lead to spoiled children, also with a reduced focus on them while the parents focus on careers and earnings. Poor families spend so much time trying to survive that children suffer from a lack of attention and incorporate philosophies founded on scarcity and being alone. Children of wealthy families also commonly feel neglected by the fact that so much attention is placed on maintaining wealth, while the parent’s attempts to assuage their guilt with gifts leads to spoiled and dysfunctional children.

Societal organization creates happiness. It is no secret that Scandinavian countries are considered the happiest countries in the world. Cold and long nights don’t matter as much as a functional and close society does. What makes them so happy? Well first of all, while we American’s equate economic growth with happiness, that is actually a very minimal indicator.

Safety is a big factor in Scandinavian happiness. They know they have a social safety net, have access to health care and to education. But also as important, is that they trust the security of the institutions that govern in feeling free to vote and speak as they wish. We are also fortunate to have this in the United States but it is not combined with social security nearly as much as it is in Scandinavia.

 Scandinavians have the highest trust factor in the world. They harbor more trust for others and their institutions than any other countries. Is the Fox News effect of trusting no one and being constantly scared making us miserable? It might be. The return to trust creates happiness. Certainly your crazy uncle Joe that constantly fears a communist government can’t be very happy.

A government that creates institutions to look after the welfare of its citizens, and not itself or the wealthy that own it, fosters trust and happiness. One thing we could do in America to foster happiness is reform our government to serve its citizenry over the wealthy and its own interests.

Studies show that the ability to “let go” is also critical in forming happiness. It has been shown that those who buy into prosperity doctrine and the “law of attraction”, actually become unhappier over time. The focus on that which isn’t obtained creates disillusionment and feelings of insignificance that were unexpected to start with. Going through life with no expectations is far better.

Those that accept insignificance and learn to say, “I don’t give a shit” have been shown to maintain a more consistent level of happiness. Those same individuals typically find spiritual moments in smaller events and foster greater contentment in themselves. Waiting for grandiose visions to materialize can destroy us.

To expound on that thought; one of the most important equations that psychologists find in leading to happiness is that lowered expectations equal better outcomes. When we accept our lives as they are and let go of the need of things that “show” success to others, we become much happier.

Other studies have shown that experience far exceeds the acquisition of things in creating happiness. They show that the only things that have lasting impact beyond their initial purchase are items that facilitate experiences. A new pair of skis will have a far higher correlation to happiness in your life than ultra-expensive home décor that can be bragged about.

The biggest correlation to happiness is the quality of our relationships. It is so important that studies show that loneliness is far more detrimental to our health than smoking. Longevity and health are intrinsically tied to our relationships. Okinawa, Japan boasts some of the longest lifespans in the world and when studied it is shown that the residents of Okinawa form very strong social bonds with those in their communities. Love, be loved, have friends and care about others, and your life will be long and happy.

We all experience differing levels of happiness due to sociology and genetics, but these are a few of the things that studies have measured that show the greatest correlation to our own happiness.

It might be as easy as letting go and forming strong and caring relationships to exponentially raise the level of happiness in your life. If all of these studies show one common item that is detrimental to our individual happiness, it would be selfishness.

It will never pay to be selfish. We will always have the best outcome when we care about our societies, our friends and family and the experiences we cultivate along the way. Letting go of our own importance paves the way for true value to happen. That expensive new car might make you happy for a while, but your amazing friendships and bonds with your family will make you happy forever.

Brian McKay is a co-founder of zenruption. He realizes that happiness matters more than anything in our lives and no matter what you own, it is who you love that matters more. We do know that tonight he did love a couple Whiskey Sours.

Feature photo courtesy of Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license