In a recent study at the University of                                                                                         California at Berkeley, researchers discovered that money does not bring people happiness, but respect from others does. In Eric Weiner’s book The Geography of Bliss: One Grumps Search for the Happiest Places on Earth, he learned that people are happiest when they have a sense of belonging to the people and place where they live, and when they feel they have people in their lives whom they can trust. It is not the quantifiable things, such as money, possessions, and luxury vacations that contribute to our happiness, but the quality of our relationships and sense of being, through respect, trust, reliability, kindness, and connection to a family and/or community, that contribute to the state of being we call happiness.

Happiness, Nirvana, Bliss, Heaven, Enlightenment, Peace, Joy. Everybody wants to have happiness, to seek enlightenment, or to find heaven. As long as we are desiring, grasping, chasing, seeking, searching, and pursuing, we will never find something we cannot possess in the first place. Constantly craving an inner state that can’t be quantified only contributes to our suffering. We can be happy where ever we are. When we nurture our relationships by being kind, respectful, loving, giving, and compassionate, we will receive the same in return, and our lives will become abundant and bountiful in unexpected ways.