"It is More Blessed to Give Than Receive" - Acts 20:35

Here is the proof for this verse.  Fascinating stuff.

Indulgence Does Not Breed Happiness

Op-Ed in the NYTimes:

Is it crazy to question how much money you need to be happy? The notion that money can’t buy happiness has been around a long time — even before yoga came into vogue. But it turns out there is a measurable connection between income and happiness; not surprisingly, people with a comfortable living standard are happier than people living in poverty.

The catch is that additional income doesn’t buy us any additional happiness on a typical day once we reach that comfortable standard. The magic number that defines this “comfortable standard” varies across individuals and countries, but in the United States, it seems to fall somewhere around $75,000. Using Gallup data collected from almost half a million Americans, researchers at Princeton found that higher household incomes were associated with better moods on a daily basis — but the beneficial effects of money tapered off entirely after the $75,000 mark.

Read the rest.

Happiness, Harvard Business Review, and the Church

Thom Rainer:

A recent issue (January/February 2012) of Harvard Business Review caught my attention. The cover featured a smiley face and several articles under the larger title of “The Value of Happiness.” Indeed, I was intrigued why a premier secular business periodical was devoting most of the issue to happiness. It did not take me long to discover that their thesis was that happy employees in businesses were productive employees.

He comments later in his post:

I was struck by the theme of the various articles in this issue of Harvard Business Review. Most of what the authors describe as being conducive to happiness is what the church should be doing every day.

It's an interesting read.


Books by Thom Rainer:

• Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them
• The Millennials
• Breakout Churches: Discover How to Make the Leap
• Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts
• Simple Church