My overall theme is living consciously so we can thrive, not just survive. My first book was about conscious spending. Recently I’ve been writing about conscious health.
Health and spending money don’t seem to be related. But actually they are, because happiness is a contributor to our overall health.
In this short TED talk, based on research at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, Michael Norton explains that relationship.
You could experiment with yourself and see if these results hold true for you.
There are countless charitable organizations looking for funds. DonorsChoose.org is mentioned by Michael Norton in the video. It allows you to give money for specific classroom projects of your choosing.
I’m a fan of Kiva, a micro-lending organization that gives people around the world opportunities to create businesses and thus livelihoods for their families. You lend as little as $25 and the money is repaid in instalments into your Kiva account, from where you can lend it again. The default rate is very low; 97% of loans are repaid.
I’ve been doing this for a while. One of my sons started me with a Kiva gift card, and I added more money later. To date, my total of $198 has resulted in $1425 in loans to 43 people in 18 countries. I love the way the money keeps being recycled and used for ever-more good.
It’s both satisfying and rewarding. So Michael Norton’s findings apply to me—money can buy me happiness when I spend it well 🙂
We sat down near the end of 2016, looked at our income, what we had donated so far in the year, and decided on a number we wanted to give to charities. It was a great feeling to sit down and choose where we wanted the money to go, a feeling that couldn’t be duplicated by anything we’d spent the money on for ourselves.
An excellent example, Teresa. Thanks for sharing your experience.