What is the key to a happy life?

[MotherBear]

Key to happy life
Page 1 of 2 5:00AM Sunday June 17, 2007
By Jane Phare

Whether money can buy you happiness has been debated since the Dark Ages, but while money helps, say the experts, it's not the answer.

And even though genetics play a part, people can do a lot to improve their happiness scores.

The pursuit of happiness grips the Western world - happiness is big business. In Sydney last week 3500 industry leaders, psychologists, company managers, consultants and personal development experts attended a four-day conference on happiness and its causes.

On the other side of the world, more happiness experts met at a conference in Siena, Italy, where they debated whether happiness was a meaningful policy target.

Attending that conference was happiness researcher Dr Nattavudh Powdthavee, a member of a London University research team which, using data from 10,000 people surveyed for the British Household Panel Survey, concluded that money buys little happiness. Instead, good relationships, social interaction and good health rate highly.

More here .