Happy tips for the new year

Chinese New Year is just around the proverbial corner (that is, Feb. 10) so here’s wishing everyone a Happy Year of the Snake! Speaking of “happy,” studies have found that “the wealthy are happier than the poor (but of course!) and wealthy countries are happier than poor ones — but only a little, on average.”

Yes, only a little. Which brings us to this big question: “Does money  make people happier?”

The perfect 10 American actress Bo Derek once boldly declared, “Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.”

Haha! Happy to know that.

Asked why money can’t buy happiness, the Journal of Consumer Psychology gives this reply to the 64-dollar question: “Because people don’t spend it right.”

And now, the authors of the paper, who are professors of psychology and experts on the science of happiness, offer their invaluable advice on how to spend your money in ways that would increase your happiness. Take double note:

• Buy more experiences and fewer material goods. That is, spend on leisure activities — like vacations, adult-education classes (or maybe a cooking class, a craft class or a Zumba class), concert tickets — instead of on more stuff. Experiences stay with you (maybe long after your to-die-for designer bag has shriveled or faded), but we adapt to possessions quickly so their pleasure wears off.

• Spend money on others. Giving money or gifts strengthens social bonds (which amplify happiness, believe it or not, all ye Scrooges) and activates brain areas associated with receiving rewards.

• Buy many small pleasures rather than one large one, especially if money is limited. The buzz from even a big purchase wears off relatively quickly.

• Delay consumption, prolong anticipation. Looking forward to an event is a great source of pleasure, even if the event ends up being a letdown.

• Consider how purchases will affect your day-to-day life. Happiness is often shaped by the “uplifts” of daily life, and unhappiness by the hassles, more than by major life events.

• Pay close attention to the happiness of others. Research suggests that the best way to predict how much you’ll derive pleasure from something is to see how much others have enjoyed it.

One sage shares this gem of wisdom: “Money will buy a bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusement but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport to everywhere but not heaven.”

If you want to feel rich, someone gave this happy tip: “Just count the things you have that money can’t buy.”

And as we count down the seconds till the Year of the Snake with nary a hiss, here are some bright words from Albert Einstein: “Many of the things you can count don’t count. Many of the things you can’t count really count.”

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Wanted: A ‘zero-basura’ election campaign

Of course, we all want clean and honest elections. And we want a basura-free election campaign! We don’t want our hapless trees, electric posts, fences, gates, neighborhoods, byways and highways blighted by the sore and sorry sight of campaign paraphernalia like the candidates’ posters, stickers, tarpaulins  (of course, you can find better use for these tarps later than a lot of these trapo candidates as these can always be recycled into trapos for cleaning the house).

Pitching for a zero-basura election campaign, EcoWaste Coalition called on all candidates to minimize the generation of trash and be mindful of the environmental effects of their actions. It came up with these 10-point guidelines for candidates and their groups to reduce, if not eliminate, campaign waste:

1) Designate a lead team in the campaign structure that will be tasked to prevent or reduce campaign waste to the minimum in all activities.


2) Target zero tolerance on garbage in all campaign meetings, sorties, and related activities.

Avoid throwing confetti, exploding firecrackers, releasing balloons in campaign events (which are blown to the seas and oceans, causing pollution and harming marine animals) or lighting sky lanterns (which can cause fire and endanger wildlife). Set up segregated waste bins for biodegradable and non-biodegradable discards in campaign assemblies. Designate eco-volunteers to guide the public in the proper separation of their discards. Clean up right after the campaign event. Hire a local waste picker to pick up segregated wastes from the campaign venue for recycling/composting.


3) Refrain from using excessive campaign materials such as leaflets, pamphlets, posters, stickers, decals, streamers, etc.


4) In the election propaganda materials, include this friendly reminder: “Para sa ating kalusugan at kalikasan, huwag pong ikalat, itambak o sunugin” or its equivalent in local languages.


5) Avoid using specific campaign materials such as tarpaulin and other plastics as their disposal has been environmentally problematic.


6) Use post-consumer recycled paper for campaign materials to conserve trees and protect our forests, watersheds, and ecosystems. To make recycling easy, avoid using plastic-coated paper.


7) Stay away from campaign materials that are hardly reused or recycled, such as confetti, buntings, and balloons. These are often burned or discarded in storm drains, esteros, rivers, seas, and dumps.


8) Reject graffiti or vandalism, or the willful or malicious defacing or destruction of property.


9) Harm not the trees: Spare the trees of election campaign materials. Use designated common poster areas.


10) Win or lose, remove election campaign materials from all sites within one week after the election day.

Now, that should take care of the election trash. Of course, on top of that, we should also know which trashy candidates to dump.