5.2 how to choose welL?

In the previous section, we have learnt that money, fame and health are not the key to happiness. This does not mean that money, fame or health are completely irrelevant to happiness. But they are less important than we may think at first:

• • In our societies, money is needed for covering our basic needs. We would live a very unhappy life if our basic necessities were not covered. But beyond that, money is not the key factor (the most important factor) for our happiness.

  • Fame, when caused by admiration, may be a source of happiness. But fame, when reduced to simple popularity, is not related with happiness.

  • Illness, especially if it is accompanied by constant pain, surely is incompatible with happiness. But handicapped and old people are as happy as anyone else even when they have serious physical handicaps.

Perhaps the most important factor for our happiness is satisfying human relations: more concretely, the relations we establish and maintain with family and friends.

Two kinds of happiness

Personal development

The happiness tree