Question:
Why the higher a person's income, the more it decreases the meaning / function / role of money in shaping happiness?
Studies in financial psychology found the answer, which came to be known as:
"hedonic treadmill".
Simply, this hedonic treadmill is like this:
When your salary is 5 million, it's all gone.
When your salary rises 30 million per month, uh ... it's all gone. Why is that ?
Because your expectations and lifestyle will surely go up, as your income increases.
In other words, your passion for purchasing luxury goods / goods will continue to increase as your income increases.
That's why it's called a hedonic treadmill:
Like walking on a treadmill, your happiness does not move forward!
The lust of matter will never be satisfied.
When income 10 million / month, want to ride Avanza.
When the income 50 million / month want to change Alphard. That's one perfect example of a hedonic treadmill trap.
Hedonic treadmill makes your expectations of material constantly increasing.
That's why your happiness is stagnant, even though the income is getting higher.
There's an interesting experiment:
A prize winner with prizes worth Rp5 billion tracked his happiness 6 months after he got the prize.
What happened ?
6 months after winning a 5 billion prize, the level of kebahagaiaan the person was SAME with before he won the lottery.
That's the hedonic treadmill effect.
So what to do to avoid a hedonic treadmill trap?
Escape from the trap of the never-ending lust of matter?
Apply is a modest lifestyle !!!
A piece of lifestyle that is not dazzled with glittering material luxuries.
Change the orientation of life !!!
The more sharing, the more giving to others, the more precisely tested the more ... !!!
It's not a lot of collecting material that makes your happiness satisfied !!!
When enough is enough.
Happiness is sometimes simple for example still able to enjoy a cup of hot coffee, hug a healthy family member, smile start the day, share the care give meaning and benefit to each other, greet and loves tip to the garbage man, go to spiritual "food" all the way to the place duty of dhikr, devoted to nation and religion, then how beautiful is this life !!!
Happy to find the real happiness of my Brother and My Friend and my Friends.
