There’s just nothing quite like a good massage…

Thomas Gilovich, Cornell University professor of psychology and Travis J. Carter, Ph.D., also from Cornell, studied the relationship between spending and satisfaction with consumer purchases. They found, as is no surprise to many of my readers, is that spending on experiential purchases – like massage or hypnotherapy or Rapid Eye Technology – left consumers feeling happy with their spending choice – and that their happiness grew with time after their purchase in comparison to spending on material goods like flat screen TVs where spending felt good at first but quickly gave way to less happy feelings.

“Buyers’ remorse” often sets in after buying a material good. Consumers ruminate about better deals and more features they may have missed later. However, such feelings rarely come up after spending money on a massage or after doing a Rapid Eye Technology session. Quite the contrary, according to Gilovich and Carter -~ “Consumers found that satisfaction with ‘experiential purchases’ – from massages to family vacations – starts high and increases over time. In contrast, spending money on material things feels good at first, but actually makes people less happy in the end”

It’s fine to purchase items that you can enjoy with use – and, in fact, focusing on the enjoyment of use makes the purchase choice sweeter and so much better emotionally over time.

Still, there’s just nothing quite like a good massage…

Study Paper: “The Relative Relativity of Material and Experiential Purchases,” – Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, American Psychological Association, January 2010.

For humans at least, “survival of the fittest” means survival of the kindest.

“This new science of altruism and the physiological underpinnings of compassion is finally catching up with Darwin’s observations nearly 130 years ago, that sympathy is [humanity's] strongest instinct.”

“Sympathy is indeed wired into our brains and bodies; and it spreads from one person to another through touch.”

These are the findings reported by Dacher Keltner, psychologist and author of “Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life,” and other researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Their research puts a fine point on Darwin’s theory – which to me is no longer a theory – that humans have evolved in ways that promote the propagation of kindness and compassion into future generations. For humans at least, “survival of the fittest” means survival of the kindest.

“Because of our very vulnerable offspring, the fundamental task for human survival and gene replication is to take care of others,” said Keltner. “Human beings have survived as a species because we have evolved the capacities to care for those in need and to cooperate. As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct.”

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Organizations and businesses are wise to invest in employee personal happiness.

“The benefits of a psychologically well work force are quite consequential to employers, especially so in our highly troubled economic environment,” Kansas State University researcher Thomas Wright said in a recent article published in the Journal of Management. “Simply put, psychologically well employees are better performers. Since higher employee performance is inextricably tied to an organization’s bottom line, employee well-being can play a key role in establishing a competitive advantage.”

Methods to improve well-being include assisting workers so they fit their jobs more closely, providing social support to help reduce the negative impact of stressful jobs, and teaching optimism to emphasize positive thought patterns.

None of this is new to those NLP practitioners and coaches working with organizations. The importance of this report is as it relates to a business’ competitive edge. In today’s market of rapidly diminishing returns on investment (ROI), perhaps the best ROI is that invested in employee job satisfaction. And to do that, organizations and businesses are wise to invest in employee personal happiness.

The job is not entirely what makes people happy. People can make themselves happy with their jobs. To be happy you must either do a job you love or love the job you do. Either way, you love your job. And when you love your job, magic occurs. Oh, yes, indeed!!

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My thanks to John Phillips for this little jewel.

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d dare to make more mistakes next time. I’d relax. I’d limber up. I’d be sillier than I’ve been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would, perhaps, have more actual troubles but fewer imaginary ones. You see, I’m one of those people who was sensible and sane, hour after hour, day after day.

Oh, I’ve had my moments. If I had it to do over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else- just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I could do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances, I would ride more merry-go-rounds, I would pick daisies.” –Nadine Stair at age 89

Increased well-being from an £800 course of therapy was so large that it would take a pay rise of over £25,000 to achieve an equivalent increase in well-being.

Research by Chris Boyce of the University of Warwick and Alex Wood of the University of Manchester in the UK finds that psychological therapy could be 32 times more cost effective at making you happy than simply obtaining more money. After comparing large data sets of thousands of people, they showed that the increase in well-being from an £800 course of therapy was so large that it would take a pay rise of over £25,000 to achieve an equivalent increase in well-being.

Over the last 50 years developed countries have not seen any increases to national happiness in spite of huge economic gains. Mental health on the other hand appears to be deteriorating worldwide.

Chris Boyce: “We have shown that psychological therapy could be much more cost effective than financial compensation at alleviating psychological distress. This is not only important in courts of law, where huge financial awards are the default way in which pain and suffering are compensated, but has wider implications for public health and well-being.”

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