Does Money Actually Buy Happiness? A Psychiatrist Explains 

Watching this not expecting to learn anything new, but by god, what an enlightening part, especially the “joy from $15 coffee is not much different from $5 coffee”. This is so true. It’s like going to a really cool cinema vs a decent cinema, sure initially there is some difference, but after that it just fades into the same.

*Maintain a homeostatic balance of ensuring security while savoring experiences.* As Dr K alluded, a myriad of studies indicate that ensuring security to a certain threshold correlates with achieving optimal metrics of happiness. Importantly, although many studies have reported that a $75-150K salary is needed to reach the asymptote of "happiness" (e.g., such as a prominent PNAS study from Princeton in 2010 that has been cited 3,500+ times), newer studies with more sophisticated metrics of happiness (i.e., millions of real-time reports of well-being and life satisfaction rather than static survey-based reports) indicate that happiness metrics do not asymptote at a $75-150K salary and, rather, increase linearly well beyond a $500K salary (per a high-profile PNAS study from UPenn in 2021). Moreover, two recent studies from Harvard in 2018 show that even those with a net worth of $8+ million have significantly higher happiness metrics than those with a net worth of "only" a few million dollars, albeit such increases in happiness are modest at this monetary level. So once one becomes a millionaire, a further increase in wealth has diminishing returns on happiness but may nevertheless provide a subtle boost. Taken together, work goals to earn beyond a $75-150K salary do seem to be worthwhile for increasing an emotionally-fulfilling sense of well-being, not just for being able to buy more stuff. However, as Dr K eloquently highlighted, the key is to prioritize savoring-enhancing and prolonging positive experiences-in all walks of life, including work and ensuring security. So, if at all possible, find a way to earn a living doing something that you believe, provides fulfillment, and is conducive to ample savoring. If that's not possible, you can still find a way to shift your perception of a job you're only doing to pay the bills such that you savor at least certain aspects of it. And if that doesn't feel possible for you right now, then find solace in your time off of work to savor your experiences both alone and with others. Finally, as Dr K also recommended, give to others-in terms of your attention, love, and even money-as much as possible. As we are all imminent dust in the wind, all we can do with our life is give it away. And after only recently discovering Dr K, he is clearly someone who gives to others and savors doing so. I'm certainly savoring his creative ways of combining his Western-based medical expertise with Eastern-based Ayurvedic tenets. Truly one of a kind.

How to be happy: 1. Prioritize security 2. Learn how to savour 3. Prioritize experiences over possesions 4. Help people with the money you make

The real reason why 100k makes you happy is because it's secure. The monks are happy with little because they can rest assured that, even if they don't have much, they will be fed and housed, they don't have much but they don't have to worry about money in the same way as us wagies.

The way I see it is: happiness should come from a place of abundance - internally. When you already have it all internally, then the external stuff you aquire later on is simply a reflection of and a compliment to your internal value. External wealth should come from a state of being internally wealthy. If you seek external happiness as priority, things will always disappoint you, esepcially if neglecting your internal self.

This video was eye-opening, especially the part about the experience with an object creates the happiness and not the object itself.

I can say that yes, 75-100k gives you a comfortable life. You can pay your basic bills, take care of your health, and have some left over for fun stuff. Where I live that's middle class, not upper middle class. I've lived on less and been able to take care of myself, but I was riding the ragged edge and one little thing could have tipped me into abject poverty. I've been pretty lucky so far, but having a good income means you don't need to rely on luck as much.

As I watch this video a pretty guy smiled at me in the bus. Then my mind created this whole fantasy of the beggining of a friendship/relationship but then...I stop that and appreciate it for what it was: a split second of human connection. That was truly happiness.

This was a particularly good video, thanks Dr.K. Especially as someone who majored in STEM with a passion for art and suffered a lot. Happiness is about your reaction to experiences and savoring the positive moments in between challenging times. "Prioritize your security, learn to savor, prioritize experiences over possessions, and spend your money on other people." Definitley gonna keep this in mind.

when i'm broke i feel sad. but when the money start accumulating i no longer feel sad. money sometimes can make you happy because you can create memories with your partner. for example going to a cruise or doing adventure stuff that requires money.

My mood when Dr K uploads 📈📈📈

"Money isn't everything" -mostly spoken by people with enough money that they don't have to worry about anything.

Interestingly.. this was one of the videos i thought wouldn't be that interesting. But it turned out to be one of the most helpful for me in a long time. Lets savour life! And lets share that joy with others!

I actually heard of a paper that somewhat compliments the main message of the video. There's a paper called "A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind" and it's actually a very good paper essentially saying that, regardless of whatever activity it is ranging from enjoyable activity to unenjoyable activity, people who use focus and pay ATTENTION to THE PRESENT are actually way happier than those who are daydreaming or thinking about other stuff. So, to complement Dr.K's message of "It's about HOW you experience choices", that's actually true, and it gives even more credence to meditation practices because part of meditation is to build attention skills. Attention IS, inherently, an emotional regulation mechanism. Now, where, what, and who you're attentive to can influence the emotional content in a VACUUM BUT comparatively you're most likely in a better spot than someone who is wandering in their mind or daydreaming for non-creative purposes. Bouncing off that into a hypothesis, I wouldn't be surprised if the implication here is supporting the stance that humans aren't creatures who want to laze around all day. We all want to do SOMETHING, but doing absolutely nothing is torture, and specifically, we want to do something that's engaging, that focuses us. This can also lead to a discussion about effort. Pursuing effort for the sake of genuine intrinsic interest in something is also related to happiness - eustress or intrinic motivation. Essentially, happiness equals being present. That goes for monks, people who earn 100-150k$, people who focus on their activity, and etc.

So appreciate your enthusiasm. Hard part, is rubber hitting the road. New thoughts and ideas versus day to day are oranges versus apples.

Start by prioritizing your security. Learn how to savor. Prioritize experiences over possessions. Try to spend some money helping/on other people. One thing that struck me: "if after playing a video game when you go out for a walk and think about how much fun you had, you realize you didn't have fun, and you feel like you just woke up from being passed out after drinking" that's when you're an unhealthy gamer, if you can't savor it, don't play.

This is one of the most important videos of the channel.

Savouring a video game experience feels a bit contrary to the “gg, go next” attitude. Appreciate your good plays. Appreciate your friends’ good plays. Think about the fun.

Being free of debt is one of the best things that can happen to you

I adore your explanations, and each video you have includes so many little facts explained perfectly.

From personal experience, the short answer is no. Money can buy comfort, but comfort is not the only thing you need to be happy. Ironically true happiness often comes from making yourself do things that are initially uncomfortable.

I like how all of these comments managed to watch a 27 minute video in 5 minutes and conclude the answer.

I honestly believe that Dr.K’s videos saves a lot of lives. No doubt.

I have been doing martial arts since I was 5 and have generally understood how I think. We have to find acceptance of 'what is and what isn't'... important to our states. I sought to learn to love by my mentally ill parents and well, that was *_tragically terrific._*

That’s interesting about the sensitivity with stress. I turned up the volume and realized that it was really high and then I remembered back in the school year when I was really stressed that I watched videos at 1-2 notches and now I am a genuinely happy person and I listen to it at nearly full volume

Money is just a tool. It's what you do with it that determines what you get from it. Me? I want to make money from art, so I can make more art. Money is just a means to an end; I've been crushing my soul in these awful jobs just to survive. *I WANT THE FREEDOM TO PURSUE MY ART.*

Love this vid, first view of your channel. I subbed at the “Jelly Crunch” bit. But overall, love your insight sir.

When I don't have to worry about money, I am a lot happier, but something money also helps me with is maintaining relationships. My best friend lives in another city, and my lack of money in the past has sometimes made it difficult to maintain that friendship. I also appreciate how money can afford new experiences and knowledge, though this is more of a bonus than it is a need.

I just wanna say that for some reason it feels great when Dr. K cusses in these videos. It gives off such a vibe of genuine passion

"We stopped learning how to love and instead started looking for it" Man oh man is that so amazing

I think this might be the single most valuable HGgg vid ive seen

Happiness is a skill that requires practice. If you're poor and suffering you probably won't get a chance to practice the skill of happiness as you will be too preoccupied with the sad sorry state of your life. If you have enough money and you're still not happy, you're not practicing things that bring happiness. Try practicing gratitude and understanding.

Of course money buys happiness. It allows you to be owner of your own life, to own your house for example, instead of living with your parents or renting some shack. Being the owner of your own life has significant meaning to a lot of people, makes the difference between being lived and living your own life.

people who say that money doesn't but happiness has never had adhd and depression and gotten a chunk of money to go splurge and buy shit you dont need for the addrenaline kick

Buying possession and buying an experience are the same thing. If you buy a cookie you're paying for the experience of eating it. If you buy a chair you're paying for the experience of sitting on it. If you buy a TV you're paying for the experience of watching it. I can't think of an example of buying a possession that doesn't ultimately result in enhancing an experience.

Money doesn't buy happiness, but lack of money causes unhappiness. When you can barely afford to live and each day is a juggle of bills, it's hard to be mentally healthy or find a way out

I felt like adding my thought here because I may have an uncommon mindset for this question. I grossed ~180k this year (so after taxes/deductions/etc. net ~130ish), so I fall into the projected peak of monetary happiness. I swear I'm not bragging, I'm just setting up my point (though I figure some may dismiss me anyway). In my personal life, I absolutely live below my means, and so my financial stress is almost nothing. I got a house in 2021 when interest rates were 2.85% on a mortgage, so I was able to afford a house that as a kid I never would've imagined having. So while part of my happiness is technically from a material thing, I feel like it's important to make the point that my enjoyment of the property is not because of how expensive it was, but rather what it is. It's 2 acres on the outside of the suburbs while still being within 10 minutes from basically every store I shop at. If you're a number person like I am, I put down ~20% (really 10%, and my parents helped with the other 10%. It was a loan, so I saved up over the last year to pay them back), and my monthly payments are just over 2,600. Since I netted on average over 10k/month, that means that I can ignore my mortgage and still put away ~2500/month to retirement, and have ~4-5000/month for fun/other bills. I set this up to compare, because I had two colleagues making about the same as I, if not more, and they're miserable. Had because I just left that job (as of Saturday), and am taking December off before going to a new job. Will I get payed at much at the next job? I don't know, but I do know that with my current expenses I could take a ~33% pay cut and still live comfortably at the same way I am. And I think that's part of the whole concept at play here. My ex-colleagues bought an absurd amount of things, didn't live within their means, and accrued a massive amount of debt, despite being in a relationship that had a combined income of at least 300k/yr, probably closer to 4-500k. Financial stress can happen at almost every level, because if you don't live below your means, and think that your life must include all these expenses, you'll be stressed out about money constantly. I know people who make half to 1/3 the amount I do, live within their means, and are far happier than my ex-colleagues. So from my perspective, I don't think 100-150k is some magical number that will make your life perfectly free from financial stress. What I think that number represents is the amount of money the average Western family would need to make to live their current lifestyle + a vacation or 2 a year, and not be financially stressed. A big problem a lot of people who make money have is that they scale their standard of living to match their means, and as a result you have the studies that report X% of millenials making over 100k/yr living paycheck to paycheck (quick google search shows 36-70%, so I won't pin down an exact number). They'll still be feeling financially stressed despite making that amount of money. From my very non-professional opinion, you have two ways to get your satisfaction in life. The first is like what Dr. K was saying, find satisfaction in your life as it is, which is not settling, it's making the best out of the life you have. The other is setting a goal for yourself, making a plan on how to reach that goal, and taking appropriate action to reach it. That's the way I did it, and to be honest, there were points I was miserable. When I was 9 years away from my goal and a teenager, I got suicidal. Looking back, I think it was primarily hormonally related depression, but still at that time I wasn't really focusing on my goal. I was doing to steps I needed to reach it, but I was still a teenager and didn't have the clarity of vision to realize the entire journey. When I was 2-3 years away from my goal, it was incredibly difficult. Not because I couldn't visualize my goal, but rather because I had been on the journey so long I was exhausted. Not enough to give up of course, but enough that I was finding it difficult to live life outside of my schooling. But now? I'm out in the world, doing what I had always wanted to, and I find immense satisfaction in reaching where I am. There are good days and bad, and if I'm being honest, I also got a lot of help along the way financially through scholarships and my family, which definitely helped me get to financial stability. But even before I had the house, I was in a 1 bedroom apartment and I was enjoying my life greatly. I know I basically just re-iterated the points Dr. K made, but since this topic directly applied to my life situation I thought I'd give my perspective. tl;dr The money is only as freeing from your financial situation as you let it be. Live below your means, find joy and satisfaction in what you do, and you'll be happier than a good amount of people who make 100-150k/year.

Fortunately, computerscience is my passion

I agree game do come in many flavors. A game that has gacha+micro transaction are the category of material goods, I need X character or this Y gear to be able to play or to compete are quite hard to savor. Meanwhile a game that is just a complete package like let's say Stray can leave you an impression for a few days.

26:36 This was literally me after realizing getting all the achievements in video games isn't fun for more. I'd spend hundreds of hours getting every stupid achievement, in games I didn't even thin were that fun, if at all. I finally decided to stop doing that, and I've been happier with life in general ever since.

"There isn't a right choice or a wrong choice. It's whatever you pick, it's gonna require work." Thanks. I needed to hear this.

Money buys Comfort ( also someone says here, Security), not happiness. And comfort mitigates life's hardship. Whether or not we feel happy after we got comfort it's a work to be done.

This video profoundly changed my views about choice. I have always felt like I am at crossroads and I have made the wrong choice at every turn. I have to truly live with my choices because I attach too much value to the choice itself.

I say depends on the person. For me yes, because it takes away problem in terms of bills and can allow for vacation travel. Now it doesn't make you happy if yu can't spend it

I think this is one of the most important videos of your channel, Dr K. This has inmense value

I'd like to make a point that buying a digital game does impact an experience, because your are experiencing that game after the purchase

Money doesn't guarantee happiness but makes the way a lot easier

The people who say money doesn't bring happiness are rich people who want to keep poor people poor

I would say money doesn’t buy happiness. It relieves stress

Money buys time from things you don't want to do that freedom might give you happiness.

The stuff I want to do require personal work, which doesn't necessarily need a huge amount of money. That's why I think money is not important to me, it's necessary but not important.

honestly with the whole games being able to be savored part, minecraft is i think one of the best examples of it bc theres literally no wrong way to play it right? also yeah the whole money not bringing happiness really matters on how much you make to a point. if ur making like 40k a year then after a while get bumped up to 60k a year ur actually probably gonna be a lot happier with that extra 20k. then if u go from 60k to abt 80k ur still gonna be happier with said 20k, but then after 100k nothing happens bc thats really enough per year for a lot of people i think. after 100k thats just extra money, but maybe then start using that to donate to charities and help people out and stuff

Meditation is the practice of savoring.

I don't need lambos or to go to Cancun, I just like having enough to spend time at home doing things I enjoy like training martial arts and working on personal stuff

This was so good I had to listen again! Thanks Dr. K, keep it up! 👍

I would need to pay 1200tl (67$) which is about 1/5 of the minimum wage in Turkey for a single session with a half decent psychiatrist that actually acts like he cares, so yeah I would say money can bring piece of mind at the very least.

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes AND No

Money doesn’t necessarily buy happiness, but financial stress definitely impedes on happiness

money is a tool it's what you did with that you find value in. Example do you remember accumulating money to pay for the concert you went to with friends or do you remember the action of being there at the concert with friends.

Dr. K is doing god's work here. No words can express how much I appreciate your content. We learn about stuff that should be taught by our parents and school but sadly not.

well, to do anything in life its cost money, want to learn piano? or travel? or whatever? those cost money, so buy direct or indirect ness money does buy "happiness"

You just summarized at the end about savoring things why some of my favorite games for example, are not good to many people and way some of the good games to many people I’m not my favorite games to play. That was a missing key. I needed to have strengthen my argument and belief. Thank you.

I knew Indian people make great tutorials and now I found one for how to live your life. Nice

This is one of the best videos released yet. I've been feeling down lately and I believe this will help.

13:24 even if the quality of the cup of coffee varies significantly?

Doctor K's videos are the best. But that running from a tiger took me out 😅😅😅

"Having too much is as bad as having too little because you are out of balance and your relationship to life and the resources of life are not correct and require change. Being in the right relationship with money means being in the right relationship with your true objectives in life and being in the right relationship with the world around you. If you have too much, you will suffer. Likewise, if you have too little, you will suffer. Both situations require change and readjustment. Your Knowledge knows what is correct-in your relationship with money, with people and with life, and in all of the particulars that are involved within these categories. Being out of balance calls for readjustment, re-evaluation and a new application of yourself. In this light, the rich are as bad off as the poor. Yet, the poor have a greater possibility for happiness than the rich, for often the rich cannot be reached. They have given themselves much too much, and they are too indulged. Perhaps if they became extremely poor all of a sudden, they would be able to relive their life and to awaken and reassess their genuine needs." *_Wisdom from the Greater Community, Book 2 » Chapter 22: Money_*

Some people make more money then discover their girlfriends only want their money and they can't find reliable people of good character. Others become wealthy but their kids become spoiled brats who can't focus on anything for long and don't become self-reliant because everything is already provided for them. Monks etc. usually belong to organizations, they can call themselves poor but their organization has lots of influence and money. Are they really poor?

If you making the right amount and use it the right way

Try to find fulfillment at your job, you're stuck there for whatever reason, you might as well make the most of it. After college I was still stuck at my retail job and I gave up finding one inline with my degree. Overtime I started taking an initiative to solve problems around my store because I enjoyed the process. My manager saw potential in me so he gave me hours every day to work in the office to execute my projects. I self learned a lot of basic excel skills and developed methods of measuring various metrics in the store. I then came up with contests and other endeavors that led to positive objective metric changes. After about 3 years I did reach my limit. I felt no growth and I started to feel depressed again. I went on a job hunt again, but this time I was able to present all the metric analysis I did at my retail job. I eventually landed a QC Microbiology Lab tech job, they called me back 1 hour after the interview! With the same mindset I moved on to Microbiologist I and Microbiologist II. Today I'm at a large pharmaceutical as a QC Micro associate scientist (just a fancy title, same work). It is hard work, but anything worth it is. Just like how love is built and not found. It takes time and effort. The fruits of your labor are not immediate, but as long as you're growing into your best self you're making progress.

This has been one one the best videos from u honestly. Insightful

For me yes, since I was a child I had to live with little money and with parents who used money for stupid things, since I live with my grandmother and I have some money in my pocket, I'm happier than ever, finally I can buy the things I always wanted

I get what he’s saying here but I still do believe there are some choices that make more sense with who you are and will align with what you value most. So for example, someone may know that they just won’t enjoy being a surgeon and would rather work in the digital graphics arena. Maybe when you’re wondering what the right choice is, this can be somewhat useful. Ultimately I think the lesson here is to pick the thing you think you could extract more enjoyment out of but then understand that it takes work on your end to actually learn to savor that experience and loving and happiness is a process, not a destination.

I really like the point you made about savoring, particularly when it comes to video games. I remember I spent years and thousands of playtime on Final Fantasy XIV, and most of the experiences that I savor were actually from back when I was just playing casually with friends. But the constant grinding I did to get the shiniest weapons and beat the hardest raids, I remember very few moments from in a positive way. I beat TEA (an ultimate raid in FFXIV) after months of trying it and when I think about that, I don't think about how cool it was to finally beat the boss. I think of all the stupid little arguments my raid group got in, all the drama and people leaving and getting mad when we weren't doing well etc. I did a dopamine detox shortly afterwards (thank you Dr.K) and that really opened me up to how little of that game I actually enjoyed. And that all of that little slice was just good experiences I had with friends, it had nothing to do with the actual content. With Elden Ring and Dark Souls games in general I actually do get an experience I savor, because overcoming these difficult bosses with only my own skill after dying over and over again has in a sense leveled my endurance irl. I used to get so frustrated if I "fail" at something irl, but then I started to think about those experiences as a death in Elden Ring, a chance to try again and do a little bit better next time. In the same sense that I didn't understand the mechanics of Melania, I don't understand the mechanics of Advanced Geometry right now. But I'm gonna keep trying and learn those mechanics.

just because someone has 100k today doesnt mean they will have it when they are 40, 50 or older

When dr k said extraordinary experience and ordinary experience give the same amount of savoring, and then went on to conclude that extraordinary and ordinary experience give the same amount of happiness, I think he mistaken savoring happiness for all of the happiness an experience can provide. (I.e. there’s also the happiness in the moment)

Wrote my bachelorthesis about this topic and the development behind it. Please notice that theres just roughly a 20% correlation to overall happiness. Current trends actually support two points: 1. There is no earnings limit to happiness from income. 2. It always depends on your circumstance and your contacts, to whom you will compare yourself to. What I learned and what I can stand behind: Money might make you happier, but it can definitely avoid unhappiness to a degree, given the living requirements you have. Its a bit like maslows pyramid of needs (at least roughly). This field of study (happiness research) is really deep and is being researched in all kind of directions (psy., business or socio.), so there will never be a unversal clear answer to it.

Yes it does, up to the point of $120K a year. It may be higher now. After the money worry threshold, no.

I've seen it mentioned here before, but since it's amazing, I mention it again: If you want to learn about learning to love, read "The Art of Loving" by Erich Fromm. It's a rather small book, pretty old (1953, if I remember correctly; a few of his views are a bit outdated), but some of the things he wrote about what society would look like one day because people more and more forgot what it means to love... almost frightening how right Fromm was. And from a personal perspective: The book saved my life almost 20 years ago. It helped me understand how important and okay it is to love yourself.

directly, no. Indirectly....yes. You can. Its just a matter of how you use it.

My personal thoughts go like this: ‘Money can’t buy happiness’ It can’t. But it can *bring* happiness. There’s a difference. When you earn the money from work, you feel happy *because* you got rewarded from hardwork. And also when you buy a new toy or gadget, you use money. So your new toy or object in particular is your ‘happiness’. (Please don’t mind that I am not good at explaining lmao.) And happiness is a mass noun, meaning that it is unable to be counted because it is indefinite. There’s another meaning of mass noun (the chocolate and coffee one) but I’m too lazy to explain it, so… The reason you can’t *buy* happiness is that it is a feeling. It lives inside of us - even if for just a short while. But dw, it’s possible to come again. :> -from Clover

Cortisol also surpresses the immune system. That's why there's a strong connection between chronic stress and sickness (which is *never* a coincidence)

Ok, here's the reality. Money... matters, duh, you don't need anyone to tell you that. Our society (at least here in America and other 1st world countries alike) function mostly with money as the driver to accomplish things in a meaningful way for society. It's all about balance as well as perception. You simply cannot function without money, but the way in which you actually achieve the money is really mostly what matters. Every person has their own idea and perception of what THEY personally think is fulfilling and 'worth it'. if you think art is the only thing you need to be happy, than you will probably not care if you're only making 30,000 a year and will find a way to establish a situation in which you can even get 30,000 a year doing art. If you enjoy art, but you also see it as idealistic to be making 70,000+ than perhaps you will make some trade offs, such as getting a more streamlined, less enjoyable artistic job at a company with higher pay. Sometimes you just follow decisions and build your life day by day, and allow your own actions to lead you to various opportunities. Simply put, don't compromise too much in either fulfillment, or money, typically for most of us the answer lies somewhere in between. With all of that being said, life is not single note, and it's ridiculous to act as if there's definitions of how things work or will work. These are just a general idea of how it works in a straight forward sense, but every individual is a highly complex, unique person with their own experiences, and at the end of the day there are an enormous amount of outcomes you can forge with your decisions.

So 100k a year make people peak happy. I live in the Europe in the post-communist country. 100k is almost five times the average pay in my country. Basically only old CEOs or IT managers have wage this high. We are also probably best off of our post-communist neighbors. Are we all unhappy then? I don't know, probably yes.

While money might not bring happiness Being poor does bring misery and sorrow

Every time I open my mind and listen to Dr. K (which is everyday btw) I get goose bumps. I love him and this kind of content.

Money doesn't make you happy it gives you the freedom to create your happiness though. Anyone who tells you it isn't is a liar or a fool or both

Monks are also probably happier compared to priests and pope from other religion as they dont need to try so hard to convert people into believing their religion, the lack of argument with humans is just that much of a stress relief, that's also why people living in country side, always seen walking alongside a sheep or cattle are happier

This is bang on. I've grappled with this for years, but the last three have really driven it home. I live in an expensive tourist town, have been trying to leave for years, but when 2020 rolled around we all got made redundant...and the town has basically been on fire ever since. I leaned into my side hustles and turned them into a full time slog to keep the lights on, not even considering the future because the tiger of zero security was chasing me. And it's been pacing around the cage I've built myself to this day - if I drop the ball and don't grind these 70+ hours a week, 7 days a week, the tiger gets a paw in and I lose blood. We're finally(!!!) moving soon, to a far saner city that doesn't taste like all the woes of Aspen, and this video has deeply reassured me that I can pick up a job in the industry I abandoned out of a growing hatred of it, and the security it will provide will allow me to FINALLY indulge my passion projects, have time to garden, and have enough spare $$ to have experiences like going for a ride in the weekends. I can't even afford a bike at the moment, or the spare fuel to go fling it around for funsies. There's zero security, no experiences, nothing but constant grind, and the money isn't enough to dig us out. Unsustainable! Bring on the boring job in a mediocre city. I'm so stoked for the opportunity to get my time back and spend it writing and experiencing again!

Idea of Maslow's hierarchy of needs teaches us that money can buy us happines on the most basic 1-2 levels of needs: physiological and safety (technically you can cover those needs without money, but this is exeptions to the rule). And those needs are fundamental also. So you really need to cover them in order to achieve a higher levels of needs. And all of the higher levels of needs are in our heads and generally don't require money to achieve. And this is a 5 (or 6) levels of needs vs 2 that require money. So yes, some amount of money is needed to form a basis of happiness, but from there it's an individual work to be happy.

Then how does one learn the skill of love?

Maybe money helps you avoid pain more than makes you happy. If you get ill, like a stroke or kidney failure, money certainly will help you avoid pain for you and your family that takes care of you. I took care of my dad after he had a hart attack and spend like twice my salary a month hiring 3 people to helped me so I can keep my job and still i suffer a lot, but not financially because I saved money for years. His second hart attack took my father away from me unexpectedly and I'm less happy now than when he was alive. Now that I can again save money, I will travel to Europe to visit my brother, that was impossible before, so money will give me happiness again. For me avoiding pain is more valuable that gaining happiness above my current level and money can do that. Thanks for reading and 4 this video

14:07 where is the second thing??? It gives me anxiety

Amazing video Dr.k thank you so much. I'm in university trying not to lose my mind. Insights you give are very helpful.

Thank you

It's your life's first play-through, so chill and stop trying to level like it's your fifth alt.

I'm a "heavy" light sleeper and now I can't stop thinking about my cortisol levels before sleep~:D I don't do anything stressfull before going bed but every foreign sound which I did not get accustomed to past 20 years wakes me up instantly. Any "relatable" comments around ? :))

Regarding monks and meditation, I’ve noticed that the expression of “extracting as much happiness from doing something” seems relatable to the effect of some antidepressants retaining the serotonin for longer on the brain, which in turn gives you happier experiences. It’s like training your brain to retain or build more serotonin naturally.

No single external thing outside of yourself will bring happiness. Family, since of connection and love will make you happy.

At the end when Dr. K talked about savoring videogames, I've come to understand why I love WoW so much even though I have _never_ done a single competitive thing since vanilla. Almost all of my time in the game (& reflection on that time) is spent savoring. For me, it's meditative.